


The Curse of Gryffindor Tower

by showmeyourtardis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blow Jobs, Established Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, F/M, Family Issues, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Get Together, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Marauders' Era, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 12:48:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15389094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/showmeyourtardis/pseuds/showmeyourtardis
Summary: It starts with a cursed feast, and then exploding wands. Soon the entirety of Gryffindor is suffering under a supposed curse. It's not long before the Marauders are affected, and decide to take curse-breaking into their own hands.





	1. The Many Legged Feast

**Author's Note:**

> This will be my last Marauders fic for now, as I've jumped ship to write about the Raven Cycle. No doubt I'll be back though, I can't escape this lot if I tried. 
> 
> Since it is my last fic, I threw in a lot of random things I'd been thinking of for a while but never had a fic to put them in. 
> 
> There will be smut, but I'll give you a heads up on that chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy! And please comment and kudos if you enjoy and I'll keep posting.

Sirius Black startled awake when the owl post arrived. Remus Lupin and James Potter were discussing the Defence homework, far too awake and far too interested in education at this early hour. Peter Pettigrew was staring hungrily at the empty plates on the table. Breakfast had yet to be delivered, and Sirius saw no reason to be awake this early unless it was to eat.

He looked up as the flurry of owls descended on the Great Hall. Letters and parcels were dropped onto the empty plates, eliciting woops and cheers and gasps from students.

The Daily Prophet was dropped off in front of Remus and he unfolded it. Sirius wasn’t interested in the news. Across the room, he caught sight of Salazar, his mother’s owl. The bird seemed to radiate evil all by itself. It was the biggest owl in the UK – a Eurasian Eagle Owl – a fact his mother seemed to love reminding people, and it’s sharp eyebrows made it look like it was permanently scowling. The owl swooped down and dropped a hefty package in front of Regulus Black.

Sirius was sure, for one second, that the owl turned to glare at him across the Great Hall. He shook himself, and watched the owl fly off back to his horrible mother. Regulus laughed at something the girl next to him said, and began to peel open the parcel.

Sirius had never received a parcel from his mother, unless the Howler disowning him counted.

A flutter of wings in his face dragged Sirius’s eyes away from Regulus. A familiar Barn Owl hopped between James and Sirius, sitting diagonally opposite each other at the Gryffindor table. James was unaware of the bird as he watched Lily Evans flip open her own letter. She was only a few people away from them, but she was acting oblivious to James’s gaze.

Next to Sirius, Remus looked up from the Daily Prophet to observe the hopping owl, “I think your owl wants you, Prongs.”

James turned his attention to the owl, “Oh, hey Waffles.”

Peter looked up at the mention of food, his face crumbling in disappointment when he saw it was just an owl and not actual waffles. James untied a tiny scroll from Waffles’s legs and unrolled it. A second scroll fell out when the first was unfurled. James glanced at it and then held it out for Sirius.

“What’s this?” Sirius asked.

James didn’t look up from his own scroll, “It’s addressed to you.”

Sirius accepted the scroll, feeling a flush of warmth spread through his chest. He may never have received a letter from his own mother, but Mr. and Mrs. Potter had already beaten her in the parenting game.

Remus returned to his paper. Peter looked longingly at Dumbledore, silently begging him to start his speech and deliver the food. Sirius unfurled his scroll.

 

_Dear Sirius,_

_I hope sixth year has treated you well so far. I remember how demanding I found it, and I wanted to remind you to take time for yourself to relax. Studying isn’t everything, and I know you’ll pass your N.E.W.T.s without a worry. Stock up on the chocolate and butterbeer, and you’ll pass with flying colours._

_I heard how well you did on your recent Transfiguration homework, and I’m very proud of you! Well done!_

_Keep in touch,_

_Euphemia and Fleamont Potter._

_P.S. If you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask._

 

Sirius rolled up the scroll with a smile on his face. He slipped it into his pocket, forgetting all about the parcel Regulus had received. He didn’t need his mother’s love, because he had Mr. and Mrs. Potter who had cared for him more in the past year than Walburga Black ever had. Sirius petted Waffles, and the bird hopped happily.

Peter groaned, “My stomach is going to implode.”

“It won’t be much longer,” Remus said, folding his paper away. He reached to pet Waffles, but jerked his hand back when the owl snapped her beak.

“I don’t think she likes you,” Sirius said.

“No animal does.”

Quiet descended on the Great Hall when Dumbledore stood up. Peter sighed with relief, picking up his cutlery eagerly. James held his hand out for Waffles, who eagerly hopped up, her claws pinching lines into his robes.

“I’ll keep this speech short, as I see several hungry faces staring up at me,” Dumbledore said. He held his hands out to the Great Hall, “Be ambitious, be loyal, be knowledgable, be brave, and above all, be kind. Enjoy your breakfast.”

At those final words, the plates in the centre of the tables filled with food. Peter dived in before he’d even seen what had appeared. He grabbed croissants and bacon and eggs, scraping food onto his plate and stuffing it into his mouth at the same time. Sirius, James, and Remus watched with barely contained laughter.

They were a lot more polite as they filled their own plates, and sipped from their goblets. Chatter started up across the room, Sirius felt awake as he chewed scrambled eggs. James fed a sliver of bacon fat to Waffles. Remus passed his newspaper to a fourth year down the table, who smiled at him with admiration.

Sirius was about to point out that the fourth year had an obvious crush on Remus, when a scream interrupted him. Another scream followed quickly, and then another, until students up and down the Gryffindor table were screeching together. Movement caught Sirius’s eye and he looked away from Remus towards the table. He dropped his fork in horror, Remus staggered backwards from the table. James jerked up, startling Waffles.

Spiders covered every inch of the Gryffindor table. The food had birthed hundreds and thousands of spiders, of all different colours and sizes. They poured from plates and swelled over goblets. There were so many, they surged over the table edge and swarmed onto students’ laps.

Peter spat out what had once been a chocolate croissant and was now a mass of chewed legs and bodies. His face turned green, he hunched over the table.

Boys and girls alike leapt away from the table, scattering spiders to the floor and onto their friends. Remus swiped a spider from Sirius’s robes. Waffles hooted and leapt onto the table, pecking at the arachnids with excitement.

The Professors had stood up to see what was causing the chaos. The other houses had stood up too, craning their necks to get a look at the terrified Gryffindor students. There were no spiders on any other tables, only the Gryffindor students were suffering through this nightmarish horror.

“Silence,” Dumbledore called calmly. He waved his wand and the spiders disappeared as easily as the food had arrived. Another wave of his wand brought a fresh serving of food, but no one found it half as appealing as they first had. “This stunt was foolish and immature, and I assure everyone I will find the culprit. But for now, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I ask you to sit down and finish it.”

Students reluctantly took their seats again. Those whose Boggarts were probably spiders sat on the very edge of the bench, ready to run a mile if they needed to. Peter was very green and, for once, he didn’t fill his plate. James and Remus sat down too, leaving their own plates empty. A quick look up and down the Gryffindor table revealed the majority of the students weren’t eating, either.

Sirius took his seat, and scraped the entirety of the untouched plate of bacon onto his own plate. He tucked in.

James stared at him, “How can you eat that?”

Sirius opened his mouth, revealing chewed bacon, “No spiders.”

“Nice, Padfoot.”

Peter heaved. He pushed himself away from the table, unable to look at Sirius or the food, “I don’t think I’m very hungry. I’ll see you in Transfiguration.”

As he left the hall, Lily stood up and caught him. Her voice was audible enough to make James’s ears prick up like a dog. He watched her swing her bag over her shoulder and talk to Peter.

“You heading to Transfiguration? I’ll walk with you.” The two of them started leaving the hall, “Those spiders were weird, huh?”

“Don’t remind me,” Peter replied weakly.

James pushed his empty plate away and stuffed his mum’s letter into his pocket. He cast a disgusted look at Sirius, who was spurting far too much ketchup over a mountain of scrambled eggs.

“Come to think of it, I don’t think I’m very hungry either.” He ran off to catch up with Lily and Peter.

It wasn’t just Gryffindor students that no longer trusted the food, students of every house abandoned half-eaten food and full goblets to get to their next class early. There was something about seeing a croissant give birth to spiders that affected an appetite.

Remus watched Sirius eat with barely concealed revulsion. Sirius looked up, a forkful of eggs on his way to his mouth. He grinned.

“Problem, Moony?”

“Yeah. You.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll brush my teeth before you kiss me again,” Sirius promised, fluttering his eyelashes.

“You mean, _if_ I kiss you again. I’m not sure I’ll be able to shake the thought of spiders crawling out of your mouth,” Remus stood up and lifted his bag. He cast a furtive glance at the students around them, but no one was listening to their conversation.

“I’m sure I can make you forget.” Sirius reached for Remus, but his hand was quickly slapped away.

Remus readjusted his shirt as though it had become wrinkled at the mere thought of Sirius’s hands on him, “I’ll see you in Transfiguration when you’re done being a pig.”

In response, Sirius stuffed an entire strip of bacon into his mouth at once. Remus shook his head fondly and headed for Transfiguration.

* * *

Aside from the occasional spider joke, and Peter almost throwing up, Transfiguration went off without a bang. They were learning non-verbal spells in preparation for the N.E.W.T. exams. James, Peter, and Sirius – who had mastered Transfiguration in their own secret ways – succeeded in using non-verbal spells before the lesson was half done. This earned them ten house points each from McGonagall, and bragging rights for the rest of the day.

They immediately started using their bragging rights on Remus, who only succeeded in the spell by the end of the lesson. Lily pointed out that Remus schooled them all in Defence Against the Dark Arts, which shut them up very quickly. The spider incident seemed to be forgotten, like a nightmare that disappeared as soon as the morning light appeared.

After Transfiguration, they had Potions, where it was Lily’s turn to school everyone. Snape and Lily were the only ones to successfully brew the Hiccoughing Solution, but by that time no one was paying attention to the lesson. Before the lesson was even a quarter of the way through, an explosion startled everyone.

Riley Baxter was singed beyond recognition, blinking in surprise, his red tie turned black with soot. Slughorn looked up with a sigh.

“Mr. Baxter, did you add your Ashwinder Eggs too soon?”

“No, Sir,” Baxter croaked out, “My wand exploded.”

Whispers started up around the class. Slughorn heaved himself out of his seat and walked over to Baxter, James leaned over his desk to see the exploded wand. Slughorn hummed when he saw it.

“Mr. Baxter, wait after class and we’ll discuss your wand,” he said, returning to his seat.

James seized Sirius’s hand before he could throw the Wartcap powder into his cauldron. James showed him how to properly sprinkle the powder in to avoid another explosion in the classroom.

His efforts were futile though, because less than ten minutes later, Gwendoline Fox’s wand exploded too. She swiped soot off her eyebrows, and Slughorn studied her wand like he had Baxter’s.

Remus spun to face James and Sirius’s table, “They’re both Gryffindor students.”

“And?” Peter asked, turning with him.

“Only the Gryffindor table had spiders,” James said, seeing Remus’s point.

“Coincidence,” Sirius waved his hand dismissively.

Remus and James didn’t seem convinced, but the four of them returned to their cauldrons. Steam curled up from cauldrons, making the room humid and sweaty. James tried to impress Lily by seductively dropped Ashwinder Eggs into his cauldron, but she just focused on her own potion.

By the end of the lesson, three more Gryffindor wands had exploded, and the rumour of a curse had been started.


	2. Sirius Black and the Terrible Hairstyle

The evening of the spider incident, James and Peter were sat in the Gryffindor common room. Since Potions, Gryffindors of all years had been affected by this so-called curse. Wands had exploded, uniforms had shrunk on the wearer, books had torn themselves up. Not a single student from another house had been affected and it was all anyone in the common room was talking about.

“Do you think we’ll be next?” Peter asked, crossing out a paragraph on his homework.

“Nah, we’re untouchable,” James said, tossing a ball of parchment at the fire and watching it smoulder.

They’d taken control of the couches in front of the fire by spreading all of their work across any empty space, forcing the rest of the students to the tables and chairs around the edge of the rooms.

Since only two members of the class had managed to brew the potion, Slughorn had ordered everyone else to write five feet on the process of making a Hiccoughing Potion. James thought it was unfair because exploding wands were very distracting.

“I feel like you just jinxed us,” Peter said, looking around the room as though the curse would physically manifest and punch him in the face.

“Nah, we’re unjinxable.”

“That’s not a word, Potter,” Lily interjected, walking past the couch to the exit.

“Stop eavesdropping, Evans,” James shot back, making her smile. He watched her disappear out of the dorm, missing whatever Peter had just said. He looked back to his friend, “Huh?”

“Where are Moony and Padfoot? What if the curse has got them?”

James had a strong suspicion about where Sirius and Remus were, but he didn’t have any proof yet. They were sneaking off a lot and whispering a lot more. More than once, James had caught the not so subtle looks shared between them. James would give them a bit more time to confess their secrets before he went hunting for the answers.

“They’re probably in the greenhouse,” James guessed, “They both have Dittany plants to keep alive.”

“What if the curse has got them?” Peter repeated, more urgently.

“Then we’ll need to figure out how to erase them from the map,” James said, unrolling a fresh strip of parchment and starting the Potions homework again, “I wonder if the map would show their dead bodies.”

Peter didn’t think James’s joke was very funny judging by the pout on his face, but it got him to stop talking about this stupid curse. James was willing to believe something fishy was going on, but he wasn’t dumb enough to think it was a curse. It was just pranksters, which annoyed him because he wasn’t about to be usurped.

He could appreciate a good prank though, and that spider thing this morning had him impressed. It took commitment to mess with the food in the kitchen.

The door to the dorm opened, and Remus practically skipped into the dorm. He sat between Peter and James, with a grin so wide it was threatening to split his face in half. He grabbed Peter and James’s shoulders.

“Wait ‘til you see him,” he said with excitement.

“See who?” Peter asked.

“Sirius, come in!” Remus called, loud enough to get the attention of the other students in the dorm.

Sirius traipsed in sullenly. He had a grey woolly hat pulled down tight over his head, covering his hair completely. James drew his brows together, but Sirius didn’t stop to say hi. He headed for the dorm, ducking his chin to his chest. Remus beamed at James and Peter, and jumped up to follow Sirius.

Intrigued, Peter and James followed, too.

In the dorm, Sirius had his arms folded across his chest and a pout on his lips. He leaned against his bed post, eyes narrowed at Remus who was on the edge of laughter. Remus stood next to Sirius and faced James and Peter.

“Show them,” he said to Sirius.

“Moony, you’re a dick,” Sirius said.

“Show them or I will.”

“Show us what?” James asked. He had a feeling it had something to do with the ugly hat on Sirius’s head. Even in the middle of winter, Sirius never wore a hat, he preferred the free-flowing-hair look. It was something he and Sirius agreed on.

Impatient and eager to share the joke, Remus pulled out his wand. Before Sirius could react, he said, “ _Accio_ hat.”

The hat flew off Sirius’s head, faster than he could grab it. Remus caught it and dodged away from the angry hand Sirius threw at him. James and Peter were frozen in shock. James’s mouth hung open, he struggled for words. He stared at his friend in a mixture of shock, horror, and all out amusement.

Sirius’s famous black hair was _blond_. His eyebrows were still jet-black, but his hair was a bright, platinum blond.

James burst into laughter, and Sirius glared at him. He gave up glaring when Peter and Remus burst into laughter too. He couldn’t glare at them all. He settled for raising his middle finger which really only served to make them laugh more.

“You’re _blond_ ,” James said.

“Why are you blond?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know!” Sirius snapped, “One minute I was walking back to the dorm with Moony and the next minute he’s on the floor crying with laughter.”

Remus laughed at the memory, which earned him another punch on the arm from Sirius.

“You did this?” James asked. He couldn’t stop looking at Sirius. The blond hair made him look pale and ghostly, but his dark eyebrows made him look very angry. He looked hilarious.

“Nope, no one did it as far as I could see. Just one second,” Remus clicked his fingers, “Sirius Black became Sirius Blond.”

“The curse,” Peter whispered.

“It’s not a curse, Wormtail, it’s a gift,” James said. He ruffled Sirius’s blond hair and earned a growl from his friend.

“I think Gryffindor is cursed.”

“I think you listen to rumours too much,” Remus said.

Sirius kicked open his trunk and pulled the two-way mirror out of his trunk. He looked at his hair with a frown, running his fingers through it. He lifted strands up to the candlelight, but there wasn’t even the slightest hint of black. It was the best dye job James had ever seen.

James crept over to his own trunk. Without Sirius seeing, he scooped his own two-way mirror out of the bag. He aimed it at his face.

As soon as Sirius materialised in the glass, he shouted, “HEY BLONDIE!”

Sirius yelped and dropped his mirror back into his trunk. He whirled on James to glare at him, but James was too busy laughing to care. Remus pushed Sirius’s hand down when he raised his wand.

“Relax, Padfoot, it’s easy to fix,” Remus said, pulling out his own wand. He pointed it at Sirius’s blond head.

“NO!” James shouted, “ _Expelliarmus_!”

Remus’s wand was snatched from his hand. He grabbed for it but it slipped through his fingers and right into James’s hand. James chucked it across the room, making Remus play fetch.

“Padfoot, I bet you 200 galleons you can’t keep it blond for the rest of the school year,” James said, quickly, before Remus could collect his wand and ruin their fun.

“200 galleons, you say?” Sirius asked, intrigued.

“200 galleons for a blond school year.”

Remus picked up his wand and dusted it off. He returned to them and held up his wand, offering his help to Sirius.

“Make it 300?” Sirius asked James.

James held his hand out, and Sirius smiled. He shook James’s hand. James knew he won either way. Sirius would keep his hair blond for the school year and James would pay 300 galleons for that pleasure, or Sirius would give up after a few weeks of blond banter and he’d win 300 galleons, by which time he would have already told all of his good blond jokes.

Remus shook his head, and tucked his wand back into his sleeve, “For the record, I hate it. It’s too bright.”

“I’ll buy you sunglasses when I win 300 galleons,” Sirius said.

Content with his new hairstyle for now, Sirius and the others relaxed onto their beds. Peter was still muttering about a curse. James and Remus couldn’t stop staring at Sirius’s blond hair, it was brighter than anything else in the room and it was pretty horrific.

A knock at the door caught James’s attention. Lily was on the other side of the door when he opened it.

“Ah, Lily, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Where’s Black?” she asked.

“Yo,” Sirius called.

Lily pushed past James, but didn’t get more than two steps into the room before she stopped. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Sirius seemed to remember he was blond, as though anyone else in the room could forget.

“You’re blond!”

“Yes, Evans, we’ve established I’m blond, please keep up,” Sirius sighed.

“Why is he blond?”

“Fashion,” James said.

“Fun,” Remus said.

“He’s _cursed,_ ” Peter said.

“Oh, not you too, Peter,” Lily sighed. She went to lean against a post on James’s bed but then thought better of it. Standing in the middle of the dorm trying not to touch anything, she said, “I just spent the past half an hour convincing Marlene there’s no curse.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here?” Remus asked, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed.

James caught sight of a pair of his boxers on the floor, and subtly kicked them under his bed before she could spot them. Seeing the dorm through the eyes of a newcomer always reminded him how messy the four of them were. Empty bottles of pumpkin juice, rolls of parchment, and smelly socks littered the floor.

“Oh, yeah.” Lily turned to Sirius. She tried to keep her face stern but failed when a smile crept onto her face. She had to look away from him to say, “I came to see why Black was sneaking around the grounds but now I see it wasn’t him. This guy wasn’t blond.”

“Not me, all of my sneaking will have to be done in the bright sunlight now,” Sirius sighed dramatically, “No more blending into the night for me.”

“You were never quiet enough to blend in,” James said.

“On the plus side, you can finally answer that age old riddle,” Lily said to Sirius. At his confused look, she explained, “If blonds have more fun.”

James laughed, “I thought they were dumber. Quick, what’s the name of the Charms Professor?”

“Suck my dick,” Sirius snapped.

“Aha! I knew blonds were sluttier,” Remus exclaimed.

“You know what?” Sirius climbed off his bed. He flipped blond hair over his shoulder, “You’re all just jealous ‘cause you couldn’t pull this off.”

“I wish I could pull it off your head,” Remus said.

Laughing, Lily left the dorm. On her way down the stairs, James heard her shout, “Hey Marlene, guess who’s blond now?”

Sirius covered his face with his pillow. James couldn’t hold off his laugh. Whether Sirius kept this hairstyle for a few weeks or the whole year, he’d never stop finding it hilarious. He scooped up his broom, and headed for the dorm room door.

“I’m off to practise. Moony, keep Padfoot in check, don’t let the peroxide go to his head.”

“Bite me, Prongs!” Sirius’s voice was muffled through his pillow, but it was no less acidic.

James laughed all the way to Quidditch practise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole fic was inspired by a random thought I had involving blond Sirius.


	3. Gryffindor's Worst Match

Sirius’s hair was the talk of Gryffindor, even as the signs of a curse piled up. Any time the conversation drifted to the newest victim (a first year with pink skin, a seventh year who’d lost all his shoes) James would stand up and declare:

“Has everyone seen Sirius’s hair?”

The conversation usually dissolved into laughter and jokes. Lily particularly enjoyed the jokes, because she had been called _Ginge_ for a whole year by Sirius in the past. To his credit, Sirius took all the jokes on the chin, even allowing some of the more attractive students to touch his hair. He was less enthused when they described it as _duckling soft._

By the time the Quidditch match rolled around, the Gryffindor dorm was abuzz with excitement and giddiness. It was the first match of the year, and the whole school was thrumming with the need to see someone get hit by a Bludger.

Remus rolled his eyes when James stood on the couch to address the crowd.

“Gryffindor, are we gonna let a measly little curse get us down?” he shouted, much louder than was necessary. Sirius pretended to cover his ears in pain.

“NO!” the crowd shouted back.

Sirius left his seat when James almost stood on him. He moved to stand by Remus and Peter by the fireplace. They watched their overly-confident, arrogant friend bask in the glow of his adoring fans.

“Are we gonna let Slytherin beat us today?” he asked.

“NO!”

“Are we going to go out there and drive Slytherin into the dirt?” James’s voice was getting louder, driving the students into a frenzy. He was wearing his kit, shiny captain badge on his chest.

“YES!” the crowd screamed.

Sirius leaned over to Remus, his breath tickling his ear and whispered, “ _Probably._ ”

Remus stifled his laughter.

“Now, tell me, who’s the best house in Hogwarts?” James demanded.

“Gryffindor!”

“I can’t hear you!”

“GRYFFINDOR!”

“What are you, a bunch of pixies? WHO’S THE BEST HOUSE IN HOGWARTS?”

“GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR!” the crowd started to chant.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team surged forward out of the crowd, seizing their captain off the couch. They hoisted him onto their shoulders, lifted him in time with the chanting crowd. James just had time to throw a smug smile over to his friends before he was carefully manoeuvred out of the dorm.

“There goes your future husband,” Remus said to Lily, as she set off to follow the crowd.

“Are you talking to me or Blondie over there?” Lily said, with a flash of a smile to Sirius.

“Joke all you want, _Ginge,_ but you can’t deny your future. I saw it in a crystal ball,” Sirius said. He looped his arm in Lily’s who didn’t protest that much.

Remus, Sirius, Lily, and Peter followed the still chanting crowd down the Grand Staircase. If they didn’t know the way to the Quidditch pitch, it would be easy to follow the cheering.

“I didn’t know you took Divination,” Peter said.

“He doesn’t, but you don’t need Professor Trewlawney to see James and Lily’s future,” Remus said.

“Shut up,” Lily said not unkindly, blush blooming on her cheeks. She pulled her scarf up higher, pretending the chill from outside was the cause of her red cheeks.

“Kissed him yet?” Sirius asked.

Lily pulled her arm free from him and stalked off through the frozen grounds to the pitch. Remus and Sirius shared an amused look, and the three of them followed her quickly disappearing shape. She blended into the crowd of red ties and chanting, as the entire Gryffindor house made it’s way to the pitch.

James, who had not had to lay a single foot on the ground the whole way here, was lowered outside the pitch, as the crowd dispersed up into the stands. Remus caught sight of Lily’s red head hanging back. Even from their far distance, the three of them could see the bright white flash of James’s smile at her. She went to take her seat before Sirius and Remus could tease her again.

“Has she kissed you yet?” Sirius asked, when they reached James.

“Shut up,” James said, but his own blush stayed hidden.

“Good luck out there,” Remus said, “And if you plan on riling up the entire house again, could you warn me next time? My ears are still ringing.”

“Show some house pride, Moony,” James ruffled Remus’s hair.

A brisk November wind hurled itself at them, burying deep under their clothes. Peter shivered. James’s team was waiting impatiently for him, they’d already mounted up. James bid farewell to his friends and ran onto the pitch. Peter, Remus, and Sirius ran towards the Gryffindor stands. They’re usual seats in the second row were probably taken. At the bottom of the stairs leading up to the seats, Sirius caught Remus’s wrist.

He pressed a finger to his lips, silencing the two of them until Peter had disappeared upstairs without them.

“I know what you’re gonna say,” Remus said, glancing over Sirius’s shoulder to confirm they were alone, “But the answer’s no, until you dye your hair back.”

“C’mon, Moony,” Sirius said, softly.

On the pitch, Zaire Cook, the announcer, welcomed the crowds to the first match of the year. Somewhere on the pitch, James would be waiting to play his first game of the year, unaware of what his best friends did every time he played.

“You can close your eyes,” Sirius said.

“But I’ll still know it’s there.”

“Moony,” Sirius pulled Remus close to him, pressing their bodies together firmly, “Let me put it this way, you can either watch Prongs prance around on his broom, or you can make out with me for the next hour.”

Remus pretended to think about it. He couldn’t deny that Sirius’s body pressed against his made the decision for him. He feigned a sigh, but before he could even voice his fake acquiescence, Sirius had seen the interest on his face and began dragging him up the stairs.

As they ascended the wooden staircase, Zaire began describing the match in such detail that Sirius and Remus didn’t really need to watch it. The crowds were cheering, the playing teams were shouting orders to each other.

Before the two of them reached the top of the staircase, Sirius climbed over the handrail and onto a wooden beam that held the Gryffindor stands up. Remus followed, feeling the familiar rough texture of the wood on his fingertips. They climbed across beams, deeper into the dim shade beneath the stands.

Above them, the cheers of the Gryffindor students sounded like roaring thunder. They settled on the thickest horizontal beam, letting their legs swing over the edge. The wood was cool beneath them, but not cold in it’s shelter from the chilly November air. The space smelt like dust and old wood, and it brought back memories for Remus that warmed him from head to toe.

The two of them didn’t wait long. Remus leaned over, rested a hand on Sirius’s cheek and pulled him in for a kiss. Sirius moved to meet him eagerly, one hand on the wooden beam and the other on Remus’s waist.

Beneath Remus’s cool fingers Sirius’s skin was warm and soft. They pressed as close as they could on the beam without losing balance, their bodies touching from shoulder to knee.

Zaire’s voice was quieted to a murmur, the sound of a voice but no discernible words. The thunder of stomping feet and cheers made them feel like they were the only two people here.

Sirius tasted like sugar. Remus deepened their kiss, tasting Sirius’s tongue. He released his grip on the beam, and ran his hands up to Sirius’s hair. His hands froze in his hair, which was far too soft to feel natural. He cracked his eyes open and a smile formed on his lips. He pulled away to laugh at the sight of blond Sirius once more.

“Really?” Sirius asked, trying to sound angry but he was secretly amused too.

“It’s so soft,” Remus said, wiping his hands on his trousers like he’d pulled off some kind of grease, “It’s like a-”

“Don’t you dare say duckling.”

“A fluffy cloud.”

“Somehow that’s worse,” Sirius pouted, he dropped his hand from Remus’s waist.

From the pitch there came a long whistle, and the sound of McGonagall’s voice amplified across the ground. The two of them turned to look but their view was obscured by the papery Gryffindor decoration over the stands.

“Do you think we should tell Prongs about us?” Remus asked, swinging his legs.

“We could...” Sirius said. He swung a leg onto Remus’s lap, “Or we could keep sneaking around, which is a lot more fun.”

Remus rested his hand on his thigh, holding him steady, “What is it about secrets that turns you on so much?”

“I learnt from the best, _Moony,_ ” Sirius said, in an unsubtle reference to the biggest secret Remus was keeping – his monthly monster. Sirius pressed his lips to his cheek, “I’m surprised he hasn’t figured it out yet, we’re not _that_ subtle.”

“I know!” Remus exclaimed, as Sirius buried his face in his neck, “All he has to do is glance at the map after class and he’d see our names pressed very close together.”

“In the library. In the greenhouses. Behind the tapestry on the third floor.” Sirius punctuated each sentence with a kiss down Remus’s neck.

Remus leaned into the kisses, wrapping his arms around Sirius’s shoulder. They weren’t in the most comfortable position. Remus would much prefer the soft beds in their dorm, he wanted to lean back and pull Sirius on top of him.

“Okay,” he said, breathlessly, “let’s stop talking about Prongs now.”

“Agreed,” Sirius’s hot breath danced across his throat.

Remus tightened his hand on his thigh, twisting his head to catch his lips in a kiss. Sirius released the beam, grasping Remus’s face and pulling him close. They were unsteady on the beam, one wrong move away from falling, but that added to the danger, to the fun. Remus inched his hand higher up Sirius’s thigh, delighting in the excited breath he let out.

The cheers above them morphed, sudden enough to make Sirius release Remus. He tilted his head to listen, and Remus sat up from his slouched position.

“Do they sound… scared?” Sirius asked.

Remus nodded, looking up as if he could see through the wooden stands to the crowd above. The cheers were no longer excited and joyful, they screamed in fear, pausing every now and then to watch in silence.

Zaire’s voice was louder, more emphatic than it had been at the start. Sirius and Remus hesitated, the lure of their kissing almost too strong to reject. But then another lot of shouts cried out, and they scrambled up. They climbed from beam to beam unsteadily, almost falling in their desperation to get to the stairs. Remus climbed over the handrail and turned to pull Sirius over too.

They ran up the wooden staircase to the seats, and burst out into a frightened crowd all facing the pitch. Half were stood up to see the pitch better, the other half were covering their faces to avoid seeing whatever it was.

Sirius grabbed Remus’s cloak and pointed to the pitch where a familiar player was nose-diving into the Hufflepuff stands.

* * *

James hurtled towards the Hufflepuff stands. He was upside-down, but he didn’t remember flipping himself. He tightened his hands, feeling his legs lose some of their grip on his broom. His hair was hanging down from his head, his glasses were going to slip off his nose any second now. He pulled back (or was it down?) just in time, and the broom jerked to halt before he became a Gryffindor flag on top of a Hufflepuff student mountain.

He managed to right himself, holding an apologetic hand up at the Hufflepuff students he’d almost impaled.

Before he could get his bearings and even think about finding a Quaffle, his broom jerked him backwards so forcefully he was surprised his neck didn’t snap in half. He could hear the cries and shouts of the crowd as his broom tried to throw him off, but he couldn’t look around.

He slowed himself, begging his broom to obey him. Didn’t they have a bond after all? This broom had been with him since fourth year, they’d won a lot of matches together, and now it was trying to murder him.

James looked up and saw his keeper spinning in a circle, fast enough to become a blur. It wasn’t just his broom that had been hexed, the whole Gryffindor team had been affected. From what little he could see, he saw the Slytherin team drifting around half confused, half amused.

He tilted forward, the closer he could get to the ground the safer he’d be. His broom resisted him, shivering in his hands. A Bludger zoomed towards him and he managed to kick it away with nothing more than a sore toe as consequence. He pushed on his broom harder, tilting himself towards the ground. He needed to get lower, he was level with the goal now. If he fell, he wasn’t sure he’d come out unscathed.

His broom suddenly obeyed, pitching forward dangerously fast. It tilted until it was perfectly vertical to the ground. His butt slid forward on the broom, his hands were sweating. He pulled back, trying to straighten his broom but it outright refused. It was poised, ready to launch him straight into the centre of the earth.

His glasses slipped from his nose, the world became a blur of colours. He couldn’t reach for them without letting go of the broom. He lost sight of them almost immediately but he knew they’d smash against the ground. He slipped forward, his hands were too sweaty to hold on. Despite the cold air his body was on fire with fear.

The world flipped. James slipped out of his seat, holding onto his broom with two slippery hands. His broom quivered. James couldn’t even think about the curse, or what this stunt meant, he could just struggle to cling to his broom as it darted this way and that, trying to throw him off. With every jerk, his fingers slipped a little more.

The crowds were shouting, Zaire was yelling nonsensically into the mic, the Professors were running onto the pitch. All seven members of the Gryffindor team had lost control of their brooms.

From where he dangled, James had an excellent view of the pitch and a lot of the Hogwarts’ grounds. He would have enjoyed it if he hadn’t been one pinky finger away from falling to his death.

His keeper fell, plummeting to the ground like a red and gold meteor. James squeezed his eyes shut, too scared to see the outcome. He clenched his muscles, tried to heave himself back onto his broom. It resisted him, like it had finally grown tired of being ridden.

It jerked. James’s hands slipped. He fell to the ground, seeing nothing but white sky as he collapsed to the earth.

A light feeling overcame James, and his descent was slowed. He landed on the cold, hard ground softly, he was a feather fluttering to the floor.

He heaved himself upwards, sitting up. The last two members of his team were still clinging on, but they wouldn’t last long. James did a quick count of his team, most of whom were sat on the ground looking dazed like him. When he confirmed everyone was alive, he flopped back against the ground and looked up to the sky.

Above him, five empty brooms flew without their owners.


	4. Almost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily goes to see James in Hospital Wing

Lily tried to act casual as she made her panicked way to the Hospital Wing. She’d seen the Professors catch James and gently lower him to the ground, but she couldn’t forget the memory of him dangling from his broom, his fingers slipping inch by inch. She’d been the first to stand up when he’d hurtled to the Hufflepuff stands, her hands pressed over her mouth to keep her scream inside.

When his broom had pitched forward, flipping him towards the ground, she wasn’t ashamed to admit she’d shouted his name in fear.

She looked down at his glasses, clutched in her hand. She used the sleeve of her cloak to swipe dirt off the glass. She’d fixed them already, running onto the pitch to get them when he’d been stretchered towards the Hospital Wing.

At the top of the stairs to the Hospital Wing, relief flooded through her when she heard his voice.

“I promise you, I’m fine,” his voice rang out, loud and confident, “Look at me, not a bruise in sight.”

“Mr. Potter,” Madam Pomfrey said, sounding mildly annoyed, “You fell from a great height-”

“And thanks to the wonders of modern magic, I felt absolutely nothing,” James interrupted. Lily peered around the great double doors into the hospital, and saw James place his hands on Madam Pomfrey’s shoulders. “Poppy, my dear, you can help me by helping my team.”

Behind James and Pomfrey, the rest of the Gryffindor team was littered on the hospital beds. They seemed shaken but not as smashed on the floor as they could have been.

The Keeper said, “But James, we’re all fine!”

“No,” James said, releasing Madam Pomfrey. He turned to his team, “You’re all my children and you will stay in this room until Poppy herself releases you!”

“I’m older than you,” the seventh year Chaser pointed out.

“You’re still my child, Henrikson!”

James didn’t wait for any more backtalk from his team, or any more warnings from Madam Pomfrey. He headed for the double doors, a bounce in his step. Lily stepped back. When he walked through the doorway, and out onto the corridor, he hid his surprise with an easy smile.

“Lily! What’s up?”

He wasn’t wearing his glasses, and his face looked plain without them, like a vital part of him was missing. She wasn’t surprised he could recognise her without his glasses, if the hair didn’t give her away, she was sure he’d recognise her blind.

She held out his glasses, “I came to see if you were okay.”

James accepted the glasses gratefully, swiping the lenses on his Quidditch uniform shirt. He put them on and blinked, trying to focus. He looked at her, and pulled a face.

“That’s embarrassing.”

“It’s not,” she said, “it’s okay to admit you’re hurt, and-”

“Oh, I meant for you,” James said. Lily frowned at him, and he shoved his hands into his pockets, an arrogant grin spread across his face, “I thought you didn’t care about me.”

“Wherever did you get that idea from?”

“I believe your exact words were ‘Potter, I don’t like you and I wouldn’t care if you drowned in the lake.’”

“And you thought _that_ meant I didn’t care?” Lily shook her head like he was an idiot.

James laughed and leaned against the stone wall. Lily moved closer to him. She was close enough to smell the dirt and earth scent of his Quidditch uniform. It was a surprisingly pleasant scent, considering he only wore it to play sports.

“You’re right, how could I have been so stupid?” James asked. He had to tilt his head down to see her, she was stood so close. His hazel eyes admired her face, her eyes were drawn to his lips, soft and inviting.

She thought of him clinging to his broom, his arm muscles straining to keep hold. She thought of his smile before the match, his cocky words, _I don’t need luck, Lily, I just need to know you’re in the crowd._ After he scored his first goal, he’d flown close to the Gryffindor stands, close enough to wave to her, and a thrill had ran down her spine.

She realised something then, and realised almost immediately after that this wasn’t new. She had a crush on James Potter, and it hadn’t started today.

Lily lowered her voice, “I’m really glad you didn’t plummet to the earth and smash like an egg on the ground.”

“Me too,” James matched her quiet tone, low enough that she could hear the murmur of his team’s chatter in the Hospital Wing. “But there’s still time, I’m going to convince McGonagall to reschedule the match for next week.”

“You think she’ll go for that?”

“Yeah, of course. So if there’s anything you want to say to me, _or do with me,_ you should do it before then,” James brushed her hair over her shoulder, his hand lingering, “Just in case I don’t make it.”

“I guess I should get a move on then,” her voice was barely more than a whisper.

Lily leaned up as James leaned down, their heads moving together in sync. His hand moved to the space between her shoulder blades, her hand reached up and touched his jaw. His breath was hot on her cheek. They were close, so close, and how she wanted to push forward and press him up against the wall, and feel the long line of his body against hers.

Someone cleared their throat, and the two leapt apart like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over them. Lily spun around to find Professor McGonagall stood at the top of the stairs. There was an expression on her face that Lily couldn’t read, and it made her cheeks heat up furiously. She looked at the floor, unable to look up at James or McGonagall.

“Professor,” James said, though he failed to follow that word up with any others, as the embarrassing silence settled around them.

“Mr. Potter, I came to see how the Gryffindor team was fairing. There are no injuries, I hope?”

“None at all, Professor. They’re under Madam Pomfrey’s watchful eye, but I think they’re all fine,” James paused. He cleared his throat, his voice hopeful, “Fine enough to replay the match next Thursday… I think.”

“I see. You are aware that I love Quidditch. However,” James’s face fell, “until the incidents surrounding this house are resolved, I think it’s best to keep at risk students on the ground.”

“But, Professor-”

“Miss. Evans?” McGonagall cut James off smoothly.

Lily looked up. Her cheeks weren’t as hot, but they were still warm. She saw no judgement in Professor McGonagall’s eyes, but it was too much just knowing she’d seen them in that embrace.

“Please head back to the Gryffindor common room. I think it’s time I speak to my students, and reassure them in this… confusing time,” McGonagall said.

“Yes, Professor,” Lily was already leaving.

She didn’t look back to James, she just kept her eyes focused firmly on the stairs as she left. Behind her, she heard James start up a well-rehearsed speech on why Quidditch shouldn’t be postponed in light of these circumstances. She tried not to think of his hand on her back or his breath on her cheek as she practically fled back to the common room.

* * *

The Gryffindor common room was crowded, more than it had been before the match. It was only when every student was forced to be present in the common room, that Sirius realised just how many Gryffindors there were. Still, he lounged on the couch like he was the only one deserving of sitting down. He had his legs stretched across Remus’s lap and his feet in Peter’s.

“He’s okay, right?” Sirius asked for what was probably the fiftieth time.

“Yeah, Dumbledore slowed him down. He’s probably just being his usual annoying self to Madam Pomfrey,” Remus answered for what was probably the fiftieth time.

Nearby, a group of third year girls were whispering quietly. Sirius caught snatches of their conversation, words like _cursed, haunted,_ and _Slytherin probably,_ were being thrown around. He leaned towards Remus and Peter, careful to keep his voice low.

“Do you think there’s a curse?”

Peter nodded rapidly, his mousey brown hair flying onto his face, “The curse of Gryffindor tower. It’s a thing.”

“It’s not a thing, Wormtail,” Remus said, lifting Sirius’s left leg to scratch his knee, “It’s just something the seventh years made up to freak everyone out.”

“Then explain all the curses,” Peter said.

Remus gave him a withering look, “Pranks, obviously. Are you telling me, that with enough time, we couldn’t have performed all these pranks ourselves?”

Sirius thought about it. Dyeing people’s hair had been a favourite past time of his. In fact, just last year he’d dyed Peter’s hair green and silver for stealing his pumpkin juice. He’d also messed with people’s clothes, turning Remus’s trousers bright pink just for fun. And come to think of it, hadn’t he once hexed James’s broom as well?

All of these curses just looked like simple spells. Granted, it would take a team of well-synchronised students to pull it all off, but maybe it was a group of seventh years making the most of their final year. The fact that all the victims had been Gryffindor students could be coincidence, or maybe it was just the Slytherins adding fuel to an age-old rivalry.

The only thing he couldn’t explain was the spiders. That would take some serious skill – skill he wasn’t sure he had himself.

Lily walked into the common room, and Sirius watched her. She didn’t look at anybody, as she squeezed through the crowd and stood by Marlene and Hestia. Over the chatter, Sirius heard Hestia’s voice.

“Why are you blushing?”

Lily’s response was lost to the volume of the room, but Sirius suspected he knew the answer. He leaned close to Remus, inhaling the smell of his shampoo.

“I think we finally got our answer,” Sirius nodded his head in Lily’s direction.

Remus twisted in his seat to get a look at her. Her hand was pressed to her cheek like she was too hot, as she said something that made Marlene laugh out loud.

“All he had to do was fall from the sky,” Remus mused.

Moments later, just as everyone began to get restless and Peter’s legs started going numb under Sirius’s trainers, James, the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and McGonagall walked in. The team was greeted by a couple of woops and a couple of shouts of _look! It’s our fallen angels!_

James ducked his head, and sat on the floor by Sirius. He didn’t look at Lily at all, and this more than anything told Sirius his theory was correct.

“You got your glasses, then? I went looking for them but they were already gone,” Remus said.

“Yeah, erm… yeah,” James said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“So is her lipgloss strawberry flavour like you thought?” Sirius asked.

“Shut up, Padfoot,” James said, but his words weren’t as nasty as they could have been. Sirius smirked at Remus.

“I feel it’s high time I put some rumours to rest,” McGonagall said, folding her hands in front of her. She surveyed her students, and the dozens of raised hands that had shot up as soon as she’d started speaking.

She held up her hand placatingly, “If your question is about the _Gryffindor curse_ you may lower your hand.”

All of the hands lowered.

“I will put this as succinctly as possible, as I’m sure a lot of you would like to check on the health of your Quidditch team,” a few cheers sounded at this and McGonagall smiled a small smile, “There is no such thing as a Gryffindor curse. We are not cursed, we are not _haunted._ I assure all of you, if there was a Gryffindor curse, I would have heard about it before this year.”

Mutters and whispers ran around the room. From the tone of the voices, Sirius could tell half were happy with this explanation, and the other half weren’t.

“The incidents of the past few days have been nothing more than immature, childish pranks.”

At this last word, several face turned in the direction of the four boys sat on the couch. The infamous Marauders, known best for their prank work and second best for the careless way they went about such work. Sirius met these stares with a lazy look.

“Yeah, I dyed my own hair blond,” he said.

“I’ve always wanted to fall to my death from a great height,” James said, looking equally unimpressed.

The faces turned away, unanimously deciding that they weren’t responsible for this. No one would curse their own team, especially someone like James, who valued his run as Quidditch Captain more than he valued any success in his classes. And Sirius would never willingly ruin his hair, that was as unspeakable as James doing the same thing. The two of them were victims, not perpetrators.

Granted, two of the four had been unaffected by the pranks so far, but no one believe Remus and Peter would do this to their own friends. The Marauders were third best known for their tight-knit, untouchable friendship.

“I don’t believe that those responsible are in this house,” McGonagall said, “but that is not an invitation to start fights with the other houses. I will not accept any student, affected or otherwise, attacking other students. This is not the time to wage a war, it is a time to stick together.”

“But whoever’s doing this won’t be Gryffindor, will they?” Marlene asked.

“Perhaps that is what they would like you to think, Miss. McKinnon.” Marlene shut her mouth, and McGonagall finished up her speech, “Now is the time to stick together. If you see a member of your house alone, perhaps take the time to walk them to their next class. If you are concerned for your welfare, find one of your house prefects. There is safety in numbers.”

“Explain the spiders then,” Peter muttered, earning himself an eye-roll from Remus.

“If anyone has any questions, don’t hesitate to come talk to me or any of the other Professors. I’ll leave you to yourselves.” McGonagall didn’t leave. Instead, she turned to Sirius as the crowd began to filter out of the common room and up to their respective dorms. “Mr. Black, could you come with me for a moment?”

“Why?”

“I’m sure it will become clear in my office.”

“Just Sirius, Professor?” James asked.

“Yes. The three of you will survive without him for ten minutes. Come, now,” McGonagall didn’t wait, and Sirius threw a confused look at James before getting up to follow her.


	5. The Head of House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> McGonagall is unsurprised and then very surprised.

Professor McGonagall had been a Professor for twenty-one years, and with that experience had come wisdom. Teaching so many students in that time had given her the skills and tools to be prepared for her future students.

For example, she had been unsurprised when she had found Lily Evans and James Potter almost kissing outside the Hospital Wing. She hadn’t been shocked when Aaron Ball had failed his third year last year, and cried for two hours in her office. She knew Remus Lupin was a werewolf, but she also knew that he would never be _just_ a werewolf. She knew Tommy Lukaz and Lainy Fryer enjoyed their romance in part because it defied the Slytherin v Gryffindor mindset of the rest of the school.

She knew a lot of things about her students, and she was very rarely surprised by their behaviour, because often patterns of behaviour repeated themselves year on year. She was never bored by this.

In a lot of ways, Sirius Black was predictable. He chose having fun with his friends over behaving in class, he excelled in Transfiguration, he put his studying off until last minute, he had fled his childhood home last year and never looked back. But in many other ways, Sirius was unpredictable and secretive. McGonagall knew he had secrets, and she knew she’d never pry them free of his head, but she had to try.

He took the seat by her desk. She offered the biscuit tin to him, “Have a biscuit, Sirius.”

Sirius accepted a biscuit. He leaned back in his chair casually, somehow knowing he wasn’t in trouble – or perhaps not caring if he was.

His current hairstyle had been unpredictable. She looked at it. It didn’t suit his skin tone, or his light eyes, or his ink black eyebrows. He watched her looking at his hair.

“You’re aware that a simple Transfiguration spell could revert your hair to it’s normal colour,” McGonagall said, “With your Transfiguration skill you would succeed the first time.”

“I would, Professor, but James bet me 300 galleons that I wouldn’t keep it until the end of the year,” Sirius said.

McGonagall smiled because this, too, was predictable.

“Did you bring me here to discuss my hair, Professor?”

“No, Sirius.” McGonagall thought of how to phrase her question. “How is living with the Potters? I believe you moved in with them the summer before last?”

Sirius didn’t seem confused by the question. He chewed on his biscuit, glancing around the office, “I did, and yeah it’s great. Mr. and Mrs. Potter are really nice, and James’s room is big enough for the two of us.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re settled.”

Sirius furrowed his brow. He could tell she had something else to say.

“Have another biscuit,” she said.

“Okay...” Sirius took a biscuit, his brow still furrowed.

“As your head of house,” McGonagall began, “I’d like to think you’d feel comfortable coming to me with any problems you have, both inside and outside of school.”

“Sure.”

“With that in mind,” McGonagall moved her chair to face him more fully, aware of how long she’d dragged out this conversation, “I have a question to ask and I hope you’ll answer honestly.”

Sirius watched her, his eyes had suddenly become very guarded. She resisted the urge to offer him another biscuit. She wanted him to be truthful with her, but she suspected that he wouldn’t be.

“Since leaving her house, have you had any contact with Walburga Black? Initiated by yourself or Walburga?”

“No,” Sirius said, far too quickly for it to be the truth, “No, Professor.”

McGonagall knew he was lying, and Sirius probably knew McGonagall could tell. The two looked at each other for an extended amount of time. McGonagall wanted to tell him that she could help him if he told her the truth, that she would fight tooth and nail for every one of her students to feel safe. But she knew it wouldn’t work, because Sirius was predictable.

Maybe he’d told James or Remus or Peter, but she would never get the truth from them either. They were all too close, too protective. Then again, maybe he hadn’t told them because they were so protective.

“Can I go, Professor? I want to make sure James is okay.”

This was also a lie.

“Of course.”

Sirius stood up. He walked to the office door and she watched him go. Before he left the room completely, she called his name, stopping him halfway to freedom.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Please remember that you can come to me with any problem you have. All of the Professors at Hogwarts have your best interest in mind, and we want to see you happy and successful.”

Sirius nodded, and flashed her a smile big enough for him to hide behind, “I know, Professor. Thanks.”

He shut the door behind him. McGonagall turned her chair back, and began sorting the mess of homework scrolls on her desk.

A second later, Sirius burst back into the room, surprising her.

“Professor, Remus has been poisoned!”

McGonagall was out of her seat and by the door in a flash. She ran after Sirius who sprinted down the corridor, her emerald green robes flowing out behind her. He lead her down the corridor to where James was carrying Remus, slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Remus was coughing and spluttering.

“Mr. Pettigrew, get Professor Slughorn,” McGonagall ordered. Poisons weren’t her forte and she wasn’t going to waste time thinking it might not be a poison, she didn’t have time to think. “Bring an antidote to common poisons.”

Peter ran off, and McGonagall conjured a stretcher. James lowered Remus to it, but Remus didn’t lay down. He was still conscious, which relaxed a few knots in McGonagall’s shoulders. She waved her wand, and some of his coughing softened, colour returned to his face.

“Remus, Remus,” McGonagall said, trying to get his attention, “Can you breathe?”

Remus managed to nod his head, he was coughing so he could breathe, that gave her more time. She looked up.

“Mr. Black, get Madam Pomfrey.”

Sirius hesitated, torn between helping Remus and not leaving his side. He reached out a hand to Remus but couldn’t decide what to do.

“Now, Mr. Black!”

Sirius ran off, sprinting towards the Hospital Wing as fast as he could.

“What happened?” McGonagall asked James.

“He was… he was drinking his potion and then he just started gargling and choking, I don’t know what was in it, I thought it was...” James hesitated, but decided McGonagall already knew, “I thought it was his Wolfsbane.”

Slughorn came huffing and puffing behind Peter. In his hand he held a teal-coloured potion in a shiny bottle. He took in Remus’s choking, the concerned look on McGonagall’s face, and panic spread on his face. He tilted Remus’s head back, the boy refusing to lean back as he choked harder, and poured the potion into his open mouth.

Remus choked again, spluttering the potion across the stretcher, but his coughing became a little less violent. Sirius came back, followed by Madam Pomfrey. She took in the panicked looks on everyone’s faces and sprung into action. In a matter of seconds, Remus had stopped choking and his stretcher was on it’s way to the Hospital Wing with Madam Pomfrey following.

McGonagall shared a look with Slughorn. It wasn’t a curse, but the two of them knew this incident was related to the others. Things were getting worse, and it was time to take action.

“The three of you, head back to your common room-”

“Professor, what happened to him?” James interrupted.

“Later, Mr. Potter. He’s in good hands, now get yourselves to your dorm before I start taking house points.”

The boys looked indignant, and McGonagall knew they were right. She was being unfair, but she had to keep them safe more than she had to be truthful. Telling them the truth would lead to panic, and the school was already braced on the edge of all out pandemonium. The poisoning of a student would not be met with reasonable and calm responses, and chaos would lead to more injuries.

“ _Now,_ ” she said, sternly.

James shut his mouth, no doubt swallowing the speech he’d been preparing. Sirius glared at her but he didn’t protest. Peter looked on the verge of tears. She watched them unblinking until they finally set off.

“Ten house points to each of you for responding to an emergency correctly,” she called. She didn’t receive a thanks, or an acknowledgement at all. She felt sorry for them, she truly did, but this was a problem they couldn’t, _shouldn’t have to,_ solve.

When the boys had disappeared, McGonagall turned to Slughorn, “Gather the other Professors, we need to talk to the Headmaster.”

“I’ll get the Head Boy and Girl to run patrols,” Slughorn said, “keep the other students in their dorms.”

McGonagall almost protested, but she thought of the determined look on the boys’ faces. She’d seen that look before, and she knew they’d try to solve this problem themselves. The Head Boy and Girl were both in Hufflepuff this year, so if it really was just Gryffindors being affected, they would be safe to keep every one else in their dorms.

Slughorn walked off to get the Professors and the Head Boy and Girl. McGonagall set off for Dumbledore’s office, it was time to do something about this. They needed to find the culprit.

Professor McGonagall had been a Professor for twenty-one years, and in that time she had learnt one important fact: Hogwarts was unpredictable.


	6. Queen of Potions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A suspect appears.

It took surprisingly little to convince Lily to sneak out of the common room with them. In fact, she was more eager to sneak out than Peter was, who opted to stay in the dorm and explain their absence if McGonagall showed up. Sirius and James didn’t begrudge him his fear. After all, he had had a front row seat to Remus almost choking to death, and McGonagall could be scary when she wanted to be.

James watched Sirius as they navigated by map to the dungeons. Sirius had been strung tight since he’d found James carrying a dying Remus on his shoulder. He’d missed the moment of choking because he’d been with McGonagall and James could practically see it eating him alive.

“You know you wouldn’t have been able to do anything, right?” James asked, quietly.

“You don’t know that,” Sirius said.

“Can you sense poisons now?”

“You have no idea what I can do.”

“Apparently sense poisons,” James muttered.

“If you two are going to keep bickering, you can go back to the dorm and I’ll do this myself,” Lily said.

James held his hands up in surrender. He noticed that she didn’t quite make eye contact with him, but at least she was talking to him. Hopefully, she wasn’t regretting their almost kiss, because Merlin knows he wasn’t. The only part he regretted was the interruption.

They reached the dungeons, and Sirius folded the map away. Lily used her wand to unlock the door to the classroom. James walked in first and lit the candles around the dark room, while Lily locked the door behind them.

The three of them gathered around a table, in silence. James pulled out the vial Remus kept his Wolfsbane in and offered it to Lily. She accepted the vial and sniffed. She recoiled instantly, holding the vial away from her. Sirius leaned forward and sniffed, jerking his head back. James didn’t need to sniff it, he already knew it would burn his nose.

“What is it?” Sirius asked Lily.

“I think it’s...” Lily didn’t finish.

She placed the vial on the table and headed for Slughorn’s storeroom. She used her wand to unlock it and James shared an impressed look with Sirius. It wasn’t that it was unusual to see Lily breaking the rules, it was just unusual for her to do it so blatantly in front of James and Sirius.

She climbed up a step ladder, the top half of her body disappearing, leaving a pair of disembodied legs on the ladder. James admired those legs.

Sirius cleared his throat, “Can you redirect the blood back to your brain, please?”

“I’ve got enough blood for both.”

“It’s that small, huh?” James stuck his middle finger up at Sirius. Laughing, Sirius continued, “I’m just saying, when my blood heads down there, I can’t even form a sentence.”

“Yeah, because until then you’re a natural-born genius.”

“Exactly,” Sirius said, choosing to ignore the sarcasm.

Clinking jars and bottles reminded James that Lily was only across the room. He decided to stop talking about his penis now.

Lily used her wand to levitate a tiny vial of Acromantula venom towards them. James plucked the almost empty jar out of the air and put it on the table.

A bottle gently knocked against Sirius’s head and he picked it up. He wrinkled his nose, “Exploding fluid?”

“How do you know this was in it?” James asked.

“Slughorn’s contents list says it should be full, but it’s half gone,” Lily’s voice was muffled from the top of the step ladder.

Lily hissed a curse, a smashing sound echoed through the room. James looked to the door, but Slughorn didn’t come to investigate. Lily climbed down the ladder, just enough to wave her wand at the broken jar, reuniting jar and contents in harmony. She climbed back up, jar in hand.

Lily levitated a number of different ingredients over to them, all of them sounded unappetising and vaguely threatening. Foxglove flower heads, nettle leaves, crushed poison ivy, bottle of pus, powdered snake fang, sparkling water, and vinegar. Sirius’s face darkened as he looked at each one, blackness swirled inside James. He would kill whoever did this to Remus.

Carrying a Professional’s Potions book, Lily joined them at the table. Sirius and James watched quietly as she flipped through the book, picking up ingredients and muttering to herself. She seemed to be arguing with herself as she flipped through recipes for potions James had never even heard of.

Sirius and James leaned on the table, either side of Lily. Sirius was thrumming with energy, desperate to resolve this issue as soon as possible so he could enact revenge. James was equally as vengeful but he wanted to keep a clear head until he knew who to direct his vengeance at.

“Got it,” Lily said. She looked up at them, her eyes sparkled with something James couldn’t place. She gestured at the ingredients, “These are in a lot of potions, but the combination of vinegar, foxglove, _and_ Acromantula venom is only found in one.”

She turned the book around so they could read it.

“Malevolent Mixture?” Sirius asked.

“That doesn’t sound good,” James said.

“It’s not good!” Lily turned the book back to herself. She was bent over the table, and it took all of James’s focus to avoid admiring the curve of her arse or the shortness of her skirt.

Lily read aloud, “If consumed, the effects include burning of the mouth and throat, swelling of the tongue, and an inability to speak. If an antidote is not taken in time, ingestion of this potion will cause an inability to breathe and consequently, death.”

“What the fuck?” Sirius asked.

“You say Remus drank this?”

“He sipped it. It was in his...” James trailed off and cast a furtive glance to Sirius.

“Wolfsbane vial?” Lily asked, guessing correctly.

Sirius and James stared at her blankly. She met their stares with her own calm look. James didn’t want to say anything that could reveal Remus’s secret, but it seemed like Lily might already know it. He looked to Sirius again, who gave him an unhelpful shrug.

Lily finally broke the silence, “I’ve known for a while. I walked in on Slughorn making Wolfsbane and it didn’t take long to figure out who it was for.”

“How long have you known?” Sirius asked.

Lily tucked her hair behind her ear and lifted one shoulder, “Since fourth year.”

“Beat you by a year,” James said. Sirius rolled his eyes, and Lily arched an eyebrow. “Just saying.”

Sirius seized the book off the table. He read everything he could about Malevolent Mixture. He looked up at James, “Things just got a lot worse. This is a giant fucking leap away from dyeing someone’s hair blond.”

“Are you keeping the hair?” Lily asked.

“I’ve grown used to it.”

“I like it, it makes you look...” Lily struggled for the word before she settled on, “kinder.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” James said, wrinkling his face.

Sirius pushed the book into James’s hands, “What do you think?”

James read the potion recipe. It looked like it took a lot of skill to make, and the effects were all horrific. Even the side effects were horrible. There was nothing nice about this potion, and it hadn’t been mistakenly made. Maybe it hadn’t been targeted at Remus, but it most likely had. Who else took a potion every day for a week, every month?

“Do you think this is related to the whole curse thing?” James asked, lowering the book to the table.

“Could just be an opportunist. Someone who saw the panic created by that curse nonsense and seized their chance,” Lily said.

Sirius picked up jars and studied the ingredients as though the potion maker would be revealed that way.

“We need to do something about this,” Sirius said. James agreed. Dyeing Sirius’s hair blond, cursing his broom, that was fine. But poisoning Remus was too far. Things were personal now, and James and Sirius wouldn’t let this go easily.

“We need to tell the Professors,” Lily said, her voice sliced through the telepathic plan Sirius and James had been making. They were sceptical. She placed her hands on the desk, pinning them with a severe look, “Look, this person is clearly dangerous. They know potions well enough to create this monstrosity, they’re brave enough to steal from Slughorn, and they have a serious hate for-”

Lily stopped talking when realisation hit everyone in the room. It was obvious now she’d put everything together, and James could tell she regretted her summary. She stepped back from the table, shaking her head.

She appealed to James, “No, no, he wouldn’t do this.”

James’s eyes slid from Lily to Sirius, who shared his determined, vengeful look. There was nothing Lily could do now, the answer was out there in the open. Maybe if it had been someone else, they might have hesitated, might have paused to think it through, but not now.

They weren’t going to let Severus Snape get away with this.

“Thanks for the help, Evans,” James said. He pushed away from the table. He and Sirius walked side-by-side to the classroom door.

Lily called after them, her voice desperate, “James, don’t do this. You have no proof it’s him.”

“We know enough,” Sirius said.

Lily didn’t return to the dorm with them. James didn’t blame her. He was in no mood to play nice. In fact, he very much wanted to burn something down. He looked over to Sirius as they walked back to the dorm, unafraid of prefects and Professors. He felt justified in his fury when he saw it mirrored on Sirius’s face.

They walked into the Gryffindor common room to dozens of worried faces. By now, the tale of Remus’s poisoning had spread through the students and panic was rising. James ignored the questions thrown at him, as they walked up the stairs to their dorm.

Peter jumped six miles off the ground when they walked in, before relaxing at the sight of them. Perhaps he had thought it was the physical embodiment of the curse come to claim him.

Sirius sat on the edge of his bed, James leaned against the railing around the heater.

“What’s wrong?” Peter asked.

“Snape poisoned Moony,” Sirius said. It was the first time the conclusion had been spoken aloud and James realised how obvious it was now.

“How do you know?” Peter asked, scrambling off his bed to join them.

Sirius looked up at James, “He’s good at Potions.”

“He hates Gryffindors,” James added.

“Moony, especially.”

“He’s smart enough, and sick enough, to do it.”

“Lily hasn’t been hit,” Sirius said.

James stared at him. If they needed one shining, solid piece of evidence against Snape it was this. Of all the Gryffindors affected, and the list was growing by the hour, Lily had been safe. Sure, Peter hadn’t been affected yet, but it was only a matter of time. James suspected Lily could tempt fate itself and still come out unscathed, because it was Snape holding the puppet strings.

Sirius mistook James’s silence for doubt, “Think about it. She’s the only one Snape wouldn’t hurt. The curse, or the spells, or whatever, hasn’t even been near her. _And_ she’s the only student in the whole school that can rival him at Potions. So unless she’s the one who poisoned Moony, it had to be him.”

James rubbed a hand over his jaw, “You’re right.”

Sirius stood up, “Then let’s get him.”

“Now?” Peter squeaked.

“Why not now?” Sirius demanded, angrier than he needed to be.

“No, Wormtail’s right,” James said. He held up a placating hand when Sirius went to protest, “Moony deserves to be here for it.”

Sirius paused. They could storm the Slytherin dorms right now, punch Snape with and without magic, but it wouldn’t be truly fair until Remus got a punch or two in. After all, he had been the one poisoned, he was the one who deserved to be angriest.

Sirius was bouncing on the balls of his feet, desperate to act, to do something. He wasn’t one to wait and think.

But he knew James had a point, “I’ll give him 24 hours to get out of the Hospital Wing, but that’s it. This time tomorrow, I’m knocking Snivellus’s teeth out.”

James held his hand out and Sirius clasped it, “Deal.”


	7. The Lucky Frog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna upload this chapter and the next immediately.

Sirius couldn’t keep still. Everyone was supposed to be inside the dorm now, but he couldn’t stay here. He felt like a trapped animal. He paced around the room, and watched James use the _Scourgify_ charm on Remus’s Wolfsbane vial again. He’d already used _Tergeo_ three times.

“I’m going to the Hospital Wing,” Sirius said. He stopped his pacing, “You coming?”

“Nah,” James said. He crossed his legs, surveying the bottles, vials, and mugs he’d collected from their dorm. He’d hunted under the beds, in the closet, inside piles of dirty clothes for every container of liquid he could find. “I’m going to clean all these, just in case.”

“Got it. Wormtail?” Sirius asked.

Peter looked up with wide, frightful eyes. He blinked a few times, before shaking his head, “I don’t want to leave the dorm.”

“That’s fair.”

Sirius knew he was tempting this curse, or whatever, by leaving the dorm, but he wasn’t going to relax today until he saw Remus could breathe again. He was already kicking himself for not being there for him, he wasn’t going to leave him alone in his least favourite place.

“Wait,” James said, stopping Sirius by the dorm-room door. He leant over the edge of his bed, and pulled a ghostly fabric out from underneath, “Take the cloak.”

Sirius threw the invisibility cloak over himself and left the dorm.

A few students still lingered in the common room, finishing homework or discussing the curse. Lily wasn’t sat with Hestia and Marlene, and he felt a bit bad for abandoning her in the dungeons. She wasn’t going to be happy with them if they cursed Snape into oblivion, but he absolutely deserved it.

On the way to the Hospital Wing, Sirius dodged the Head Girl when she walked down the corridor he was on. She didn’t see him, obviously, and he made it to the Hospital Wing without being sent back to square one.

He heaved open one of the huge double doors, just enough to squeeze inside. The room was dimly lit by candles, most of the patients were sleeping as Sirius should have been. He wasn’t surprised to see they were all Gryffindors, with red ties around necks or slung over the end of the bed. He recognised a few of them, Anna who had green skin, Stanza whose clothes had tried to choke the life out of him.

The sooner he punched Snape in his smug face, the sooner this nonsense ended.

He glanced over to Madam Pomfrey’s office but she was nowhere to be seen, hopefully she was sleeping too. Sirius crept through the room, finding Remus in the very last bed by the window.

“Moony,” Sirius whispered.

Remus, lit by candlelight, startled from his nap and blinked. He rubbed his eyes and squinted into the darkness.

Sirius pulled off the cloak, walking behind the papery screen that separated Remus’s bed from his neighbour. Remus smiled weakly at him. Sirius glanced over his shoulder, but Pomfrey hadn’t seen him yet. He dropped the cloak on the end of Remus’s bed.

“It’s just me,” he said. Sirius perched on the side of the bed, forcing Remus to move his hand lest it be crushed, “How are you?”

Remus pointed at his throat and shook his head.

“You can’t… talk?” Sirius asked.

Remus nodded, and then shrugged apologetically.

“It’s okay, I can fix this.” Sirius slipped his wand out of his sleeve and waved it, “ _Accio_ parchment.”

A strip of parchment lifted from a bedside table on the opposite side of the room and drifted towards them. Sirius plucked it out of the air and gave it to Remus. Holding a finger up to pause him, Sirius patted his pockets until he found his half empty ink-pot and quill.

Remus accepted the gifts, and quickly started writing.

 _Hey,_ he wrote.

“Hey? _Hey?_ ” Sirius demanded, keeping his voice low, “I do all this for you and you write hey?”

 _Hey, Padfoot. Pomfrey says I shouldn’t talk. Let me finish writing, it takes a while, dickhead,_ Remus finished writing and gave Sirius a pointed look.

“Okay, sorry. How are you?”

_Feel like I drank acid._

“You pretty much did. Evans thinks it was Malevolent Mixture,” Sirius said.

_Lovely._

Sirius stood up, “Move over.”

Remus shuffled over and Sirius slid into the bed next to him. He had to cling very closely to Remus to avoid falling off. Remus grabbed the ink pot before it spilt everywhere. Sirius wiggled and shifted and stretched, and if Remus could speak he knew he’d be yelled at. He ended up with his head on Remus’s shoulder, the pillow propped up behind them, and one leg slung over his lap. Remus pulled the covers back over them, straightening it out.

“Need bigger beds,” Sirius said.

_I don’t think that’s a priority._

“It should be. Double beds for advanced healing. Can’t you feel yourself getting better already?”

_I can feel myself sweating. Why are you so hot?_

“Moony, I can’t control how hot I am. I’m naturally hot.”

_I meant temperature._

“Sure you did.”

Remus sighed and leaned his head onto Sirius’s. Sirius enjoyed sharing this bed. They never got chance to do this in the dorm, because James and Peter were always there. Right now, he couldn’t quite remember why they’d decided to keep their relationship a secret. All he could think about was a comfier position in his bed in the dorm, and maybe a few less clothes.

“I didn’t come here just to cuddle.”

_Really?_

Sirius didn’t need to see Remus’s face to know it was doubtful.

“Okay, I came here mostly to cuddle. But I also need to tell you something...” Sirius said. Remus didn’t write a reply, and Sirius continued, “We think Snape poisoned you.”

Remus’s quill hovered over the parchment. He started writing, stopped and scribbled it out, and then started again.

_Does he know?_

Sirius didn’t need to ask what was being referred to. The poison had been in his Wolfsbane vial, which meant that, yes, Snape probably did know.

“We… aren’t sure,” Sirius said, which might as well have been a yes.

Remus sighed again. He crumpled the parchment up and threw it across the room, where it bounced lamely across the floor. Sirius took the quill and ink-pot off Remus and placed them on the bedside table. He snuggled closer to Remus, burying his face in the crook between his shoulder and neck.

Their bodies fit together well. Remus had a hand on Sirius’s thigh, flung over his lap. Sirius placed his hand on Remus’sneck, brushing his thumb over his jaw, feeling the rough beginning of stubble. Remus smelt like strong potions and creams, the typical smell of the Hospital Wing, with an underlying smell of Remus. A smell that Sirius couldn’t identify beyond it being inherently Remus Lupin. It was probably what a love potion would smell like for him.

“I think we should tell Prongs about us,” Sirius whispered.

He knew why he hadn’t told him so far, and it was because he was scared. But James wasn’t his mother, and Remus was right, he’d accept it – with a few doggy-style jokes, of course.

Remus had thrown away his only line of communication, so he had to resort to facial expressions. He pulled away to furrow his brows at Sirius.

“I just think it’s time,” Sirius said. “Plus I want to beat him and Evans to it.”

Remus rolled his eyes, but the smile on his face was unmistakable.

“I take it I can’t kiss you,” Sirius asked, already knowing the answer.

Remus nodded. If he couldn’t talk, Sirius certainly wasn’t allowed to kiss him. He sighed dramatically, like this was a huge inconvenience in his life, making Remus smile. Sirius pressed his lips to Remus’s cheek.

“I should get back to the dorm before Pomfrey yells at me.” Remus held up a hand in question, and Sirius answered, “I’m not scared of her, I just don’t want to be banned from the Hospital Wing because I would very much like to do _this_ again.”

Sirius got out of bed, jostling Remus a lot. Once he was stood up, he tucked Remus in and cooed, making him shake his head in fond exasperation. He tucked the quill and ink pot back into his pocket.

“Listen, Moony,” he dropped the joking tone in his voice, “When you get out of here we’ll have a plan to get back at him. Just wait, I’ll fix it. And if he knows, I’ll obliviate the bastard myself.”

Remus’s expression was unreadable. He waved goodbye as Sirius threw the cloak over himself and disappeared from sight.

After leaving the Hospital Wing, Sirius headed back for the Gryffindor dorm. As much as he would like to have stayed with Remus, he knew he couldn’t. James would grow suspicious for a start, and McGonagall was fully prepared to punish any student out of bed during this _cursed_ time.

The Grand Staircase wasn’t behaving, and he was forced to wait for the staircase ahead of him to right itself before he could go. The castle was eerily quiet at this time, even the portraits were asleep. Sirius wondered what he’d find when he returned to the dorm. Would James still be scouring the bottles in the dorm? Would Peter still be studying curse breaking?

Sirius startled when he heard it. The sound like a sudden waterfall had formed in the corridor behind him. Sirius pulled out his wand, but stayed beneath the cloak. He pushed open the door to the corridor slowly, peering into the darkness. He heard wet footsteps, and a whispered string of curses.

Sirius straightened, “Lily Evans, I should wash your mouth out with soap.”

“Black?” Lily called, “Get over here!”

Sirius pulled the cloak off and lit up his wand. He jogged down the corridor, stopping when his wand light caught on a puddle of water on the floor. The smell of dirty lake water filled his nostrils. He grimaced and splashed through the puddle, to a silhouette that must have been Lily.

She squinted in his wandlight, shielding her eyes with her hand. He lowered it, and took in the sight of her. She was covered head to toe in filthy lake water. It stained her usually pristine, white shirt a dirty brown. Her clothes clung to her, heavy with water. Her hair was flattened against her head.

“What the hell happened to you?” he asked. A frog hopped onto his shoe. Now he’d seen that one, he noticed the handful of frogs in the corridor, enjoying the water and looking incredibly out of place.

“I don’t know,” Lily said. She stepped forward and used his sleeve to wipe her face dry. He only protested a little.

“I was walking back to the dorm after a little more research,” Lily glanced up at Sirius, and he guessed who her research had been on, “and suddenly I’m drowning!”

Sirius plucked a sprinkling of duckweed out of her hair, “At least you’re not blond.”

“There was a frog in my bra!”

“Lucky frog.” Sirius plucked the frog off his shoe. He positioned it on the palm of his hand and peered down at it, “Don’t tell James or he’ll transfigure you into a leaf.”

“Will you be quiet?” a portrait of an old man hissed at them. Sirius stuck his middle finger up, “How rude!”

Lily took off her shoes and poured water out of them. She looked at the mini-lake of water forming across the corridor. If Filch caught the two of them here, curse or not, he’d punish them. Sirius reached for her sleeve but recoiled when he touched it, it was soaking wet.

“Come on, Filch’ll be here soon.”

“Snape didn’t do this,” Lily said. She squelched through the corridor, her socks leaving wet footprints across the floor.

“Yeah,” Sirius sighed, running a hand through his hair, “this does ruin my solid Snape sucks theory.”

“So you’ll leave him alone?”

The staircase had righted itself enough for them to make their way to the dorm.

“I never said that,” Sirius said.

Lily sighed but she didn’t protest. Sirius and Snape would never be friends, he was sure the two of them would rather die.

“Are you still carrying that frog?” Lily asked, with barely veiled disgust.

Sirius looked down at his new pet, “I’m going to call him Lily’s Nipple.”

“No you bloody aren’t,” she said, a little too loud considering they were sneaking through the castle.

“Lily’s Bra Friend?” Sirius offered.

“How about nothing with Lily in?”

“James’s Jealousy?”

“Better,” she shrugged.

Sirius sniffed Lily’s hair when she told the Fat Lady the password.

“You stink,” he said, when the portrait swung open.

“You’re not so hot yourself,” she argued.

“It’s okay, Lil, I’m sure James still wants you. Lake smell and all.”

Lily rolled her eyes, but she didn’t protest this fact. She dripped water across the carpet and all the way up to her dorm. Sirius took his new pet up to his own dorm. He filled a glass with water from his wand and put his new pet inside. He’d need to find a proper home for it in the morning, and he’d also need to rub it James’s face, by telling him exactly where his new friend had been.


	8. Shut Up

The next morning, Lily could still smell the lake on her hair. It smelt like she’d gone for a swim with the giant squid. She could tell Marlene and Hestia weren’t impressed. They tilted away from her as they waited for breakfast.

“What happened again?” Hestia asked.

“She was _cursed,_ ” Marlene said, wiggling her fingers theatrically.

“With the stench of rotten water?”

“With a handful of frogs and duckweed.”

“Okay,” Lily interrupted, swiping her hair off her face, “I get it, I stink.”

“You really do,” Marlene said.

“And your curse involved Sirius Black and his new pet?” Hestia nodded her head to where Sirius, James, and Peter were watching the frog hop across the table. The two groups were only separated by a handful of students, which made the boys’ laughter loud enough to hear.

“I believe that frog was in her bra,” Marlene said, leaning around Hestia to watch James pick up the frog and put it in his goblet.

“Poor James, I bet it’s weird being jealous of a frog.”

“Shut up,” Lily said, dropping her gaze from James, who was in the process of magically filling his goblet with water for the frog.

Hestia whispered dramatically to Marlene, “She’s been so uptight since she almost kissed James.”

“Romantic frustration,” Marlene stated, as though it were her professional opinion.

“Shut _up_ ,” Lily repeated.

“We’re kidding Lil,” Hestia said. She waved her hand at James, “I’m sure another opportunity will come up soon.”

“Especially if you keep watching him like that,” Marlene said. Lily’s gaze had climbed back to James, and she dropped it quickly. She twisted back to face Hestia and Marlene who were smirking at her.

“Shut up.”

Before her wandering gaze could get her in any more trouble, Lily was saved by Dumbledore standing up and addressing the students. The candles in the ceiling dimmed, the voices around the room hushed. This was going to be a speech, Lily realised. It was not going to be a casual greeting, a reminder to represent the best parts of their houses, this was going to be a speech, something to inspire and warn them.

“Students,” Dumbledore began. His robes shimmered an ethereal silver, “I want to remind every single one of you, that you are not cursed. And more importantly, you are not alone.”

Lily glanced around, every student was turned to Dumbledore, hanging on his every word. The speech had taken a turn she hadn’t expected.

“No one in these halls is alone. No witch or wizard is ever alone,” Dumbledore had his hands folded in front of him, a solemn look on his face, “The Professors at Hogwarts are here for you. Your peers, classmates, and friends are here for you. So I implore, every one of you now, if you are in need of help, do not be afraid to ask for it.”

Lily looked around again, trying to decide who Dumbledore’s speech was aimed at. It was clearly aimed at someone in particular, someone who was affected by this curse, whether a victim or a perpetrator. She just didn’t know who.

“Help will always be given to those in need. You should not fear punishment when asking for help, you should not fear judgement.” Dumbledore tilted his head to look up at the dimmed candles floating in the ceiling, “We will protect you, you will be protected.”

Dumbledore looked back down at the students, “While we are with our houses a lot, we must remember that they do not define us. House colours can not break friendships, they should not break family ties, and they should not break you apart. They do not separate us. The four Hogwarts Founders came together to create this school, and now you must come together to keep it running.”

Dumbledore paused, long enough to pin each house table with an interested look. He lingered on each table, and when he looked at Gryffindor, Lily looked right back.

“Breakfast is served,” Dumbledore held his hands up and food magically appeared on the tables.

“Weird speech,” Marlene said, spearing a sausage with her fork.

“Who do you think it was for?” Lily asked.

“Us,” Hestia shrugged, “Them. Everyone. I think it was a general speech.”

Lily didn’t agree. She picked up a piece of toast and buttered it, as she once again glanced around the room. Up the table, James was holding a handful of coins and the frog goblet out to Peter, no doubt trying to convince him to drink it.

Opposite them, paying them no attention, was Sirius. Lily startled when she saw his expression. It was too solemn, too intense, for a boy with a frog in his platinum blond hair. She followed his gaze, aimed directly at the Slytherin table. For a second, she thought he was glaring at Snape, but then she saw Regulus Black, a smaller, more pristine version of his older brother.

Regulus wasn’t looking at anyone, nor was he eating. He was swirling a finger over the top of his goblet, lost in his thoughts.

Lily looked back to Sirius, and saw the same intense, thoughtful expression mirrored on his face. The two Black brothers were lost in their own heads, and Lily wondered if it had something to do with Dumbledore’s speech.

Abruptly enough to catch her eye again, Regulus stood up. He hadn’t eaten his breakfast as far as she could tell. He didn’t look at anyone, he didn’t wave goodbye to the girl on his side. He stood up, slung his bag on his shoulder, and stalked out of the Great Hall.

Sirius scraped the frog off his head, his eyes followed his brother as he left the hall. He passed the frog to James, who accepted it with a look of confusion.

Lily caught just a snippet of his excuse, and the word, _Moony._

She waited for Sirius to get ahead, before she stuffed her toast in her mouth and followed him.

“Where are you going?” Hestia asked.

“I’m going to see Lupin in the Hospital Wing,” Lily said, the lie coming easily.

“Tell him I said hi,” Marlene said, spearing another sausage.

Lily followed Sirius. James was too busy trying to convince Peter to drink the frog water – now for ten galleons – to notice her or perhaps he would have followed.

Outside the Great Hall, she caught sight of Sirius sneaking down a corridor towards the dungeons. She followed, hoping he was too lost in his thoughts to hear her.

She crept into a shadowed alcove when Sirius caught up to Regulus. From here she could see them, but they couldn’t see her unless they knew where to look. The boys didn’t know they were being followed, they didn’t know to be quiet.

“Reg!” Sirius said, his voice rushed and panicked, “Is it her? Is that what Dumbledore’s speech was about?”

“Piss off, traitor,” Regulus spat, but he made no move to abandon his older brother.

“Is she mad? Has she done something?” Sirius reached for Regulus but his hand was slapped away.

“Don’t talk about her. You’re not worthy to talk about her,” Regulus pressed his hands to his head, like he was trying to hold it together. Something glittered on his wrist when his sleeve slipped down. Lily guessed it was a watch that probably cost more than anything Sirius owned.

“What’s gotten into you? I thought...”

“Thought what?” Regulus spat again, his voice dripping acid, “That we were still friends after you abandoned the family? Thought that I still cared about you after you chose that arrogant piece of shit over us?”

“Don’t talk about him like that,” Sirius snapped.

He took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm himself down. Lily thought about intervening, thought about driving them apart before they killed each other.

Sirius calmed down, “I didn’t choose him over _you._ And I didn’t abandon the family, they abandoned me.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Regulus moved to leave but Sirius grabbed him.

“You know I couldn’t stay there. _You know_ ,” Sirius said. He held Regulus’s arms tightly, creasing his robes, “She would’ve killed me, Reg, please. You know she would have.”

“Get off me!” Regulus shouted, shoving Sirius hard enough for him to hit the wall. Sirius clapped a hand to the back of his head, where he’d hit the stone.

“Regulus-”

“Is there a problem here?” a familiar voice called from the end of the corridor. Lily ducked further into the shadows, but the owner of the voice wasn’t interested in her.

“Nothing that concerns you, Snivellus,” Sirius said, his voice acidic enough to match Regulus.

“Well, it looks to me, Black, that you’re outnumbered. No Potter here to keep you safe?” Snape said. His wand slipped smoothly into his hand.

“I don’t need him to defend me,” Sirius pulled out his own wand, “But I might need him to stop me.”

“I thought that job went to your boyfriend?” Snape said. He looked around the corridor theatrically, “But he’s not here either, is he? Guess Lupin won’t be sucking your cock with a burnt up throat.”

“ _Stupefy,_ ” Sirius shouted, sending a crackling ball of energy at Snape.

Snape waved his wand and a shield appeared just in time to bounce the spell away. It hit the wall and singed the stone.

Lily saw the dark twist of Snape’s smile. She freed her own wand from her sleeve, and aimed it at Snape.

Luckily, she’d been practising non-verbal spells ever since Sirius, James, and Peter’s egos had grown. She thought the spell, she held the intent in her mind and channelled it all at Snape.

“ _Septum-”_ Snape’s spell was cut off when his wand was snatched from his hand. It arced into the air, towards Lily.

She stepped out of the shadows to catch it. The three boys stared at her. Regulus took off running, ignoring Sirius calling his name.

Lily threw Snape’s wand back at him harder than was necessary, “Get lost, Severus, before I tell Slughorn you tried to curse Sirius.”

“Lily, I-”

“Now,” Lily said.

She didn’t understand what she’d interrupted. She didn’t understand what she’d heard between Regulus and Sirius. But she did understand wanting to keep a sibling that wanted nothing to do with her.

Snape slitted his eyes at Sirius, a silent promise that this wasn’t over. Lily turned back to Sirius when Snape left, but he didn’t meet her eye. He was watching the corridor that Regulus had run down.

“Sirius-”

“How much did you hear?” he asked, not aggressively, but quietly.

“A bit,” Lily admitted. “Is he who Dumbledore’s speech was about?”

Sirius turned back to look at her, his expression guarded. She suddenly glimpsed a wealth of secrets involving the Black family that she would never be privy to. An easy smile – so brilliant it was hard to imagine it was faked – slid onto his face.

“I don’t know, but his speech got to me. _Houses shouldn’t break family ties_ , it got me thinking...” Sirius shrugged nonchalantly, “I tried.”

It was just believable enough for her to imagine it wasn’t a lie. But she’d seen the panic on Sirius’s face, his intensity when he’d asked, _is it her_ _?_

She knew it was a lie. Sirius was just good at lying.

“If it helps,” she said, “my sister hates me.”

Sirius closed the gap between them and looped his arm through hers, “Petunia?”

The two walked back towards the Great Hall, Sirius only looked back in the direction of Regulus once.

“How do you know her name?” Lily asked. Before Sirius could answer, she said, “Let me guess, James?”

“I probably know more about you than you’ll ever know.”

“Creepy.”

Sirius pulled her to a stop before they went back into the Great Hall. He looked at her, frowning slightly.

“Will you do me a favour? Don’t tell James I was talking to Regulus, he… he doesn’t like it,” Sirius said.

“I won’t,” Lily promised. She hadn’t thought of telling James, and she knew she wouldn’t. He didn’t have a sibling he loved, despite their untethered hatred. He would never get it.

Sirius pulled Lily into a quick hug, he whispered into her hair, “You smell like a swamp.”

Footsteps made them both jump apart. They spun to find Remus walking towards them, an eyebrow arched in interest.

“What’s this?” he asked. His voice was croaky and rough, like he’d started smoking and decided 80 packs a day was a good starting point. He cleared his throat, but it wasn’t any better when he said, “Have the two of you decided to cut James out of the equation?”

“Moony!” Sirius released Lily and threw himself at Remus, who staggered under the full weight of Sirius’s affection.

“I was only gone for a night,” Remus said, hugging Sirius back.

“Evans is going to sniff-test all of your drinks from now on!”

“Is she?” Remus peered at Lily over Sirius’s shoulder, his eyes alight with humour. For someone who had spent the night in the Hospital Wing, he sure was happy.

“Apparently,” Lily shrugged. She pushed Sirius out the way and hugged Remus, ignoring Sirius’s protests, “You sound like a 90 year old smoker.”

“Thanks. Can we get breakfast now? I’m starving.”

“Would you say you’re hungry like the wolf?” Sirius asked. Lily headed into the Great Hall, where the chatter of the students had erased any ominous air lingering after Dumbledore’s speech.

“I’m hungry enough to eat _you_ if you don’t get a move on.”

Sirius lowered his voice, but it was just loud enough for Lily to hear, “I’ll hold you to that.”

She chose not to acknowledge that she’d heard, as she walked off to sit by Hestia and Marlene again. She filed that little fact away, reminding herself to ask James next time they were alone. As Remus returned to his friends’ cheerful reunion, she glanced to James and smiled at the smile on his face.

Across the table, pushing his own food onto Remus’s plate despite the abundance still waiting to be taken, Sirius was grinning too. Now, though, even from where she sat, Lily could see his smile had an edge, sharp enough to cut himself on.


	9. James Potter and the Worst Thing That Has Ever Happened

The morning passed as they often did now, with a string of Gryffindor students cursed. The curses were getting more aggressive, students were losing control of their limbs, their books were attacking them, and Filch was often seen cleaning vomit off stone. In some ways, the curses were a lot more personal too, they were affecting people in ways that would hurt the most. Students self conscious about their noses were waking up and finding them 5 times the size, heavier students were breaking their chairs like they were made of cardboard.

James had to admire the curse, or whatever it was, in its intricacy. To pinpoint someone’s insecurity and exploit it, it was impressive in its cruelty. He hated it, of course, but he was impressed. Someone smart had done this, someone smart and very cruel.

James was sat in the library, studying the Marauder’s Map. He was supposed to be studying Charms, but the map was a lot more interesting. A lot of the sixth year, and most of the seventh year, students were spread about the grounds, making the most of their free period. A lot of them were gathered in the library.

James placed his finger on the dot marked Sirius Black. He was pacing from the looks of it, pacing the dorm endlessly. Up and down, up and down. James followed the dot with his finger, and wondered, not for the first time, if he should go check up on Sirius. But he knew that as soon as he approached the dorm, Sirius would lie down on the bed and pretend he hadn’t been worrying away the floor.

Sirius would come to him when he was ready. He was never one to suffer alone for long, and he knew James would always be there.

James turned his attention to Remus and Peter in the greenhouse. Remus stood still, probably bent over his plant studying each leaf for any sign of rot, while Peter ran forwards and backwards, darting from this side to that. He was probably grabbing all kinds of materials, soil and fertiliser, cutters and watering cans.

James could go join them, but his plant was a survivor. It seemed hardier than everyone else’s, needing very little attention during the day.

Instead, he slid his eyes to the dot that was Lily. She was walking the corridors, probably on Prefect patrol, and he decided that a manufactured meet-cute might be in order. Especially since their almost kiss was right there, waiting to be finished. If he set off now, he could meet her by McGonagall’s classroom.

“Mischief Managed,” he told the map, folding it away neatly.

He shoved his untouched Charms book into his bag and gently placed the map on top. He slung his bag over his shoulder. As he left the library, he rehearsed what he was going to say.

_Lily, fancy meeting you here._

He shook his head. He’d used that comment too much. It was beginning to lose its wit. He left the library, squeezing between a group of Ravenclaws halfway through the doors.

_Lily Evans, what a coincidence!_

He discarded that idea too, because it sounded like it wasn’t a coincidence. It wasn’t, of course, but he wanted the illusion that it was. He wanted Lily to think that fate had brought them together and not the high probability of running into each other in the school they shared.

He needed something good, something quippy and interesting, a real conversation starter. It couldn’t just be a _Hey Evans_ because that was too Sirius, and it couldn’t be _Lily, how you doing with the Potions homework_ because that was too Remus, and it couldn’t be a meek smile, waiting for her to start the conversation because that was too Peter. It had to be something inherently him.

_Lily Evans, you beautiful witch, I’m so glad I ran into you, so I can tell you exactly-_

James cut off his own thought, sensing himself on the edge of rambling into a speech. It had to be from him, but he didn’t need to cut open his heart and bleed all over her. He suspected that approach wouldn’t work. He rounded onto the Transfiguration corridor, and saw his time was running out.

Lily walked towards him. She somehow made the Gryffindor uniform shine, like the moment it enveloped her it became magic itself. Her red hair shone in the candlelight, hanging loose around her shoulders.

He smiled at her, and when she saw him she smiled back. That smile, _Merlin, that smile._ James had missed it. Anytime he wasn’t actively looking at Lily’s smile, he missed it. His heart burst when he was on the receiving end of it.

Lily reached him, all his time had ran out. He’d been too lost in her smile, in her shiny, straight teeth, her glossy lips, to think of a quippy opener. She looked up at him.

“Hey,” she said.

He panicked. He had to say something better than _hey,_ or _hi,_ or _will you marry me?_

“Do you think Sirius and Remus are secretly dating?” he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. He added, “Because I do.”

Lily furrowed her brows, but after a moment she tilted her head in thought, “Why do you think that?”

“Well,” James said, setting off back down the corridor Lily had just walked from. She fell into step next to him. James tried to piece together all the little things that made him suspect his two best friends were an item. “For starters, they have loads of inside jokes.”

“Don’t you all have inside jokes though? You have jokes with Sirius, and Remus, and Peter. You’re all living in a web of inside jokes,” Lily said. James detected the tiniest note of jealousy in her voice.

“Yeah but our inside jokes don’t usually involve smirking.” At Lily’s doubtful look, James clarified, “Okay, they do, but not their kind of smirks. They smirk at each other like… like...”

“Like Sirius wants Remus to mount him right there?”

James slammed to a halt. Lily kept walking for a few steps before slowing and looking back to him. She arched an eyebrow, one corner of her mouth sliding up into a smile. He shook his head, choosing to ignore the image that floated into his mind.

James set off walking again, “They sneak off together too.”

He thought of the excuses they’d been giving lately, sometimes it sounded like they weren’t even trying. They had plants to feed in the greenhouse – fine. Remus had to help Sirius with his Astronomy homework – okay. It was a nice night for a walk in the middle of winter – not that great. Sirius was going to read Remus’s future in the tea leaves – terrible excuse because neither Sirius nor Remus took Divination.

Honestly, they must think he’s stupid.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done my fair share of sneaking,” James said as they rounded the corridor, passing under Peeves who thankfully paid them no attention as he mocked a portrait.

“Have you now?”

“Not _that_ kind of sneaking,” James said, “But generic prankster sneaking, sure! I’ve blended in with the shadows, hidden from Mrs. Norris. But those two… those two! They disappear at the first chance.”

“Maybe they’re just pranking without you.”

“Impossible,” James said, waving his hand dismissively. “And when we sneak off to prank we don’t come back looking… looking...” once again, the word he was looking for eluded him. He settled on, “...ruffled.”

“Ruffled?” Lily asked, clearly amused with his choice of word.

“Ruffled,” James was happy with his choice, “messy hair, wrinkled shirts, out of breath. They’ve either been fighting or-”

This time James knew the word he was looking for, but he chose not to say it. Judging by her raised eyebrows, Lily got his meaning. She stretched her hand out and brushed her fingertips over the stone as they walked past.

“Anything else?” she asked, dropping her hand from the wall. James wondered if he should take her hand, or if she would find that weird.

“ _Merlin,_ Lil, the looks they share! It’s like they’re blind to everything else!” James complained, “When Sirius is getting changed, I could throw a building at Remus and he wouldn’t look up.”

“They’re definitely secretly dating.”

“Or I’m crazy.”

“Those things are not mutually exclusive.”

“So they’re dating _and_ I’m crazy?”

“Exactly,” Lily said. She stopped walking and leaned up against the wall, one leg propped up against it. She looked up at him, “So, are we going to finish what we started or just keep talking about your friends?”

“Uh… finish what we started?” James offered.

She smiled, and he took that as an affirmation. He closed the gap between them, and brushed his fingers through the ends of her hair. She tilted her head back, her hands caressed the sides of his face. She pushed them upwards until they ran through his hair, sending a shiver of pleasure down his spine. He leant down, she leant up, and this time there was no interruption.

They met in a soft kiss, a sighed breath. She ran her hands through his hair, down his neck, over his shoulders. He let his hand wander over her shoulder, down her arm, jumping to her waist. It was everything he’d hoped for, dreamed of.

He pulled away, his eyes opening slowly like he’d woken from a restful sleep. She kept her eyes closed, eyelashes resting on her cheeks. There was a smile on her face, softer than her normal smile.

He admired the sprinkling of freckles on her skin, the blonde roots of her eyelashes. He leaned down again, for their second first kiss, and her eyes fluttered open. When she saw him, they shot wide and her hand pressed against his chest. She didn’t push him away, but he didn’t kiss her again.

“Lil?” he asked, “What?”

“James… Your...” she couldn’t finish what she was going to say. Her eyes watched the top of his head.

“What?” he asked, pulling away.

She kept her eyes on him, bright and wide with shock. He reached up to touch his head, her hand seized his, holding him still.

“Don’t,” she ordered, forcefully.

He dropped his hand, suddenly afraid. He could feel the tickle of a breeze on his head, and he didn’t know what that meant. Judging by her expression, Lily didn’t have good news to share.

She held his hand and pulled him down the corridor, “Quickly.”

He let himself be dragged along, as she hurried down the corridor. She peered around the corner before they went around, like she was worried they were being followed. She stopped at the door to Prefect’s bathroom.

“Green grass,” she said, unlocking the door.

She pulled him inside, her hand clasped tightly to his. He was about to make a joke about what they could do in a bathroom. Perhaps something relating to soap or showers. But his words were strangled in his throat. He caught his reflection in the mirrors above the sink and the world fell away. His heart lodged in his throat, choking him.

He staggered to the mirror, dropping Lily’s hand. The reflection that looked so unlike him staggered forward too. That confirmed it. The bald boy in James’s reflection was him. He pressed a hand to his head and felt cool skin, not soft, perfectly coiffed hair. He was bald. He was bald.

_He was bald._

He’d been cursed again, and this time he’d lost something more important than control of his broom.


	10. Starving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: there is smut in this chapter, please be aware. If you'd like to skip it, I advise reading the last paragraph to avoid being lost in the next chapter. 
> 
> Also happy bank holiday monday! I've decided to upload another chapter this weekend cos its a long weekend. ENJOY!

Remus downed the rest of his Wolfsbane potion in one horrible gulp, as he headed for the Gryffindor common room. He never got used to the taste, and he doubted he ever would. By the time the next transformation rolled around, he’d forgotten how bad the taste had been the month before. Every time he drank it, it tasted newly disgusting.

Still, he’d be lost without it. He was lucky Pomfrey had had the forethought to pour Wolfsbane into his wasted throat while he’d been in her Hospital bed.

Remus counted on his fingers, there were still five more doses left until he transformed. And then there was the transformation to worry about. He tried to keep it out of his mind, he really did, but it was hard to forget something that lived inside him. If the curse issue wasn’t resolved by his transformation, he could only imagine how it would affect him as a werewolf.

The Gryffindor common room was just beginning to fill as students finished their last lessons, and waited impatiently for dinner. Remus headed up for the dorm, his shoulders slumped and aching.

As soon as he opened the door, he was slammed back against it, shutting it with a bang. Sirius pressed his lips to Remus’s, his hands shoved his bag off his shoulder and knocked the empty vial from his hand.

“Padfoot,” Remus muffled against Sirius’s lips. He cleared his throat when a tickle came. It was still wrecked and sore, and he sounded like he’d spent thirty days howling at the moon.

Sirius pulled away enough to ask, “Where’s Wormtail?”

He didn’t release Remus long enough for an answer. After kissing back for a moment, Remus pressed a steady hand to Sirius’s chest, pushing him away. Sirius allowed himself to be pushed away, but not happily.

“I left him in the Greenhouse, he’ll be gone for a bit,” Remus said.

“Prongs?” Sirius asked, his eyes darting down to Remus’s mouth.

Remus shrugged, “Don’t know.”

“ _Colloportus,_ ” Sirius said. At the end of his wand, the dorm door locked. He tilted his head, a smile played on his lips.

Remus pushed off the door, and let his robes fall to the floor. Sirius’s eyebrows shot up, and Remus enjoyed the look of surprise on his face. He stepped forward, and pushed Sirius back.

He pointed his wand behind him, “ _Wingardium Leviosa.”_

Without looking, Remus used his wand to shove James and Peter’s trunks against the door as an extra piece of security. The two of them wouldn’t like what their trunks were being used for, but right now, it wasn’t anything to do with them.

“Your place or mine?” Sirius asked, as he was willingly manoeuvred backwards towards their beds.

Remus pushed him to his bed, until the back of his knees hit the side of the bed and he fell backwards. Sirius shifted back to the pillow, and Remus climbed onto the bed after him. Sirius watched him eagerly, biting his lip in anticipation. Remus reached for Sirius, but a raised hand stopped him.

“Wait,” Sirius said.

He sat up and pulled off his robes. He loosened his tie swiftly, unpopped his shirt buttons fast enough to almost rip them off. Next his trouser button was undone, and his trousers were shoved off with his socks. Sirius threw his bundled clothes to the floor, and returned to his languid position on the pillows.

Remus arched an eyebrow, “Well, I feel wholly overdressed.”

“Easy way to fix that,” Sirius said. Already his fingers were loosening Remus’s tie.

Sirius eased the tie over Remus’s head. Remus admired the focus on his face, he could be bent over a cauldron struggling to make a potion by the expression on his face. He sat up, forcing Remus to move backwards to avoid crashing their heads together. He buried his face in Remus’s neck, hot breath and warm lips. Every time he popped a button on Remus’s shirt, he kissed a new part of his neck.

The shirt was pushed off Remus’s shoulders and abandoned on the bed. Remus didn’t let Sirius get to his trousers, he was too impatient. He pushed Sirius roughly against the bed, delighting in the excited gasp he let out. He pounced, and caught him in a kiss, pinning him to the bed with his body.

“If Prongs walks in now, he’s gonna be horrified,” Sirius said, when Remus kissed his way down to his collarbones.

Remus paused long enough to say, “It’s going to get worse.”

“Remember what you said about eating me?” Remus hummed an affirmation, and Sirius lowered his voice to a husky whisper, “You hungry?”

Remus smiled against his chest, “Starving.”

He followed the lean line of Sirius’s body with his mouth. He trailed from his nipple to his ribs, kissing each one individually. He kissed his belly, marvelled at the line of black hair that stretched from his belly button into his boxers, so different to the hair currently on his head. His teeth grazed his hip, his fingers ghosted over the waistband of his boxers.

Remus moved to kiss the inside of Sirius’s thighs, listening to the sigh from his lips. He pressed his hand to the front of his boxers, with just enough pressure to make him sigh again. He felt Sirius’s cock harden beneath his touch, he spread his fingers and gently rubbed.

He was aware that their time was scarce. As much as he would’ve liked to tease Sirius, he didn’t have time.

He pulled down Sirius’s boxers. He’d seen Sirius naked hundreds of time – getting ready for bed, changing from his uniform to his broom kit, streaking – but he never stopped enjoying it. He pressed his lips to the base of Sirius’s cock, and slowly placed kisses up to the tip.

Without any more build up, Remus licked the length of Sirius’s cock, from balls to tip, earning himself a satisfying sigh. He licked again, and wrapped his lips around the tip. He sucked slightly, swirling his tongue over the head. Sirius’s hands entangled in his sheets, gripping tightly as Remus took more of him in his mouth.

Remus bobbed his head, knowing just where to place his tongue to drive Sirius mad. He pushed lower, swallowing a gag when the cock hit the back of his throat. Sirius groaned a word that almost sounded like _Moony._

Remus kept going, alternating the use of his hands and his mouth. He listened to the sighs and moans from Sirius, felt himself harden at the sound of his pleasure. He lead Sirius to the edge and pushed him over, accepting every last drop. He licked the entire length of Sirius’s cock when he was done, and crawled up the bed to the pillows.

Sirius pried open his eyes and peered at Remus with sleepy satisfaction.

“Have I told you how good you are at that?”

“Every. Single. Time.” Remus punctuated each word with a kiss to Sirius’s bare shoulder.

As if he’d taken a shot of espresso, Sirius was suddenly wide awake again. He rolled onto Remus, pinning him to the bed and kissed him furiously and passionately. Remus laughed at the sudden attack.

Sirius pulled away and grinned at him, “You know what I always say, Moony. I’m not just a receiver, I’m a giver too.”

“Get on with it,” Remus said, leaning up to kiss him quickly. “Before we’re interrupted.”

Sirius whispered into Remus’s ear, “Not even Merlin himself could pull me off you.”

He kissed Remus’s earlobe, and planted a warm trail of kisses down his neck.

Like Remus, Sirius wasted no time. He had Remus undressed in a matter of seconds, and his fingertips danced up his thighs. He took Remus into his mouth with no build up, and Remus was surprised enough to moan. Remus grabbed a handful of Sirius’s hair, tightening his grip when Sirius swallowed him.

Sirius grabbed Remus’s hips, his nails leaving crescent dents in his skin. Sirius’s mouth was warm and wet and his tongue was magic. He gagged, but he kept going, unwinding Remus with ease.

Remus looked down, and Sirius met his eyes. There was something about the sight of Sirius Black with a cock in his mouth that pushed Remus over the edge. He came into his mouth. Sirius used his tongue to clean him up, before joining him on the pillows.

With a smug smile, Sirius lay on the pillow. Remus stretched his arms high above his head, feeling spent and satisfied. He rolled over and threw an arm over Sirius’s chest, snuggling into his neck.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” he said, softly.

Sirius twisted to look down at Remus, and brushed the tips of his finger across his cheekbone, “I’m amazing and you know it.”

Remus smiled sleepily, “Can we skip dinner? I’m too tired to eat.”

Sirius hummed in response, and Remus let his eyes drift closed. He moved his hand to place it over Sirius’s heartbeat, feeling the rapid beating begin to slow as they relaxed. There wasn’t nearly enough room on the bed for both of them, but it was way more comfortable than the hospital bed had been.

The smell of Sirius’s shampoo enveloped Remus, his warm skin lulling him to sleep. They hadn’t even had dinner yet and Remus could see himself sleeping here for the rest of the night. Maybe at some point they’d have to unlock the door for James and Peter, or maybe the two of them could just sleep in the common room for this one night.

“You know, if we told Prongs about us, we could sleep like this every night,” Remus said.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Sirius asked, his voice didn’t sound half as sleepy as Remus’s did.

Remus kept his eyes closed as he hummed an affirmation. He nuzzled his face further into Sirius’s neck, pushed his sweaty thigh onto his.

Even though he’d asked the question, Sirius didn’t tell his secret. Remus didn’t press. In all honesty, he was fully ready to sleep. The wolf was on its way and he knew he’d be having some sleepless nights soon.

Sirius twisted again, jostling Remus back to consciousness. He wiggled and shuffled until he was facing Remus, their naked bodies pressed together. Sirius pressed a hand to Remus’s cheek, his breath was hot on his face.

Remus peeled his eyes open, and came face to face with Sirius’s grey stare, “Padfoot?”

“I went to Grimmauld Place over the summer,” Sirius confessed.

Ice seized Remus’s heart.


	11. Lily Evans and the Piece of Parchment

Lily was freaking out because James was freaking out. After staring at his reflection in abject horror for a silent 15 minutes, he locked himself into a cubicle. Even Lily couldn’t get him to come out. She knocked against the door again, but no response came besides the constant string of grumbling and whining.

“James, what can I do?” she asked.

Through the grumbling, she was sure she caught a few words that made sense, like _bald, ugly,_ and more helpfully, _get the map._

She could at least follow his mumbled orders. She found his bag, dumped and abandoned by the door, and rooted through it. She didn’t find a map, but she did find a Charms book, a couple of broken quills, sweet wrappers, and a delicately folded piece of parchment. She took out the parchment because it was the only thing that could reasonably be a map.

Though now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure why James would want a map. He probably wasn’t thinking straight, this was the first time his brain had had access to so much oxygen without all that hair in the way.

The parchment when unfolded turned out to be more parchment. She took it to the cubicle James was in.

“James, I found this parchment, is that what you wanted?”

James didn’t reply. His grumbling and whining had ceased, and now she feared his heart had stopped. She leaned against the cubicle door, and looked at the parchment. There was something familiar about it. It was just a piece of parchment but inexplicably, she felt like she’d seen it before – maybe subtly passed from Sirius’s hand to James’s, or tucked in Remus’s pocket as he did Prefect rounds, or crumpled in Peter’s fist as he crept away from the kitchens.

She shook her head, that was insane, surely. It was just a blank piece of parchment that felt vaguely dusty in her fingers. Maybe her wand could help. She pressed the tip against the parchment.

“Uh… help me?” she said, half to the parchment and half to James.

No help came from either of them. She couldn’t shake the familiarity of this parchment, and she suspected it had something to do with James and his friends. The four of them were excellent at Charms, and maybe they’d charmed the parchment to… she didn’t know, but she had a feeling it would be helpful.

Or terrible, she could never be sure with those boys.

“James?” she asked.

When he didn’t reply, she decided to exhaust all her options before she burst into the cubicle and dragged his bald head out of the bathroom. Lily struggled for something to say, and eventually settled on an introduction. It was always better to be kind to potentially charmed objects. She’d learnt that the hard way.

“I’m Lily Evans,” she told the parchment, suddenly feeling very stupid.

Her embarrassment only lasted for a few seconds. Inky words eased onto the page, as though they were being carefully written by an invisible hand.

_Mr. Padfoot would like to register his complete lack of shock that Lily Evans is here, and also his suspicion that this somehow involves Mr. Prongs._

She read the message quickly, another flash of familiarity appeared at the words Padfoot and Prongs. She was sure this was something to do with Sirius and James. Hadn’t she heard those words whispered between them, and shouted across the common room?

Before she could figure it out, more words appeared below.

_Mr. Prongs offers his warmest welcome to Lily Evans, and asks her to consider what she solemnly swears she is up to._

_Mr. Moony thinks Mr. Prongs is being too obvious, and it isn’t important anyway because Lily Evans is never up to no good._

_Mr. Wormtail wonders if Lily Evans’s presence is due to a romantic success, and promises that her mischief will be managed._

Lily read the messages over and over, trying to make sense of them. She felt like she’d had a one-sided conversation with four very strange and very mysterious people. She suspected they were the Marauders, and this is what they did in their spare time. If she didn’t think too hard about it, she could put a face to each name.

There was something about the messages that struck her. The use of the words _up to_ were repeated, and Mr. Moony had used a double negative for some reason.

_Up to no good._

_Consider what she solemnly swears she is up to._

The parchment had a password, and Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter had just handed it to her.

She placed her wand on the map again, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

The inky messages disappeared, replaced by an intricate design.

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers_

_are proud to present_

_THE MARAUDER’S MAP_

She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. These boys were huge dorks, and she loved their idiocy and determination to create mischief. The introduction disappeared and an inky map took its place. She skimmed the page, spotting names and rooms and moving dots. She spotted her own name, next to James, in the Prefect’s Bathroom.

“This is how you bump into me so often,” Lily said.

She was sure she heard a soft laugh from James.

Looking away from her own dot, she scanned the map for James’s friends. She wasn’t sure how they could help. Maybe he just wanted them to see his newly shiny head so they could get their jokes out now.

Sirius and Remus’s dots were in the Gryffindor dorm. Remus’s dot was going crazy, pacing this way and that, pausing for long moments, before starting pacing again. Sirius’s dot didn’t move, even as Remus’s got right up to his. Lily narrowed her eyes, and thought of what James had said before his worst nightmare had come true, _do you think Sirius and Remus are secretly dating?_

She left their dots doing whatever their dots were doing, and looked for Peter’s. He was heading through the corridors, and in about two minutes he would pass the Prefect’s bathroom. Lily placed the map on James’s bag and ran to get Peter.

He jumped fearfully when she ran to him. He was wrapped up in a thick coat, a Gryffindor scarf, and a bobble hat. It must’ve been cold outside.

“Lily,” he said, out of breath, “You scared me.”

“Sorry, Peter,” she said, genuinely, “But it’s an emergency, come with me.”

She seized a handful of his sleeve and dragged him down the corridor. He stammered out a response but she wouldn’t let him refuse. She pulled him into the Prefect’s Bathroom and, like James, he looked a little bit scared at being in the bathroom with her.

“James,” she said, announcing her arrival, “I’ve got Peter.”

“Pete,” James’s weak voice called, “Do you have your hat on?”

“Yeah… uh, yes? Why?” Peter asked, looking between the cubicle and Lily.

“Give it to me.”

Peter pulled his hat off without asking why. He walked to the cubicle and held it over the top. Lily arched an eyebrow at him.

“Aren’t you going to ask why?” she said.

Peter shrugged, “Nah.”

She watched him while they waited for James, trying to pinpoint which part of Peter defined him as Wormtail. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know, just in case the boys were being… well, disgusting boys.

The cubicle door opened and James stepped out with Peter’s bobble hat on his head. Lily would’ve found it hilarious if she could scrape the image of James’s bald head out of her mind. He didn’t look at her or Peter, he kept his eyes firmly on the ground.

“Can I know what’s happening now?” Peter asked.

“He’s… uh...” Lily faltered, “The curse got him.”

“Oh no!” Peter gasped, genuinely frightened.

“It’s fine… it’s fine,” James said, looking like it was anything but. He looked up at Lily with hopeful eyes, “You know how to make Manegro Potion, right?”

She nodded, and he sighed with relief. He tugged at the hat uncomfortably, bringing the rim further down over his forehead. He shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Let’s get this over with then,” he left the bathroom.

Lily grabbed his bag and gestured for Peter to follow. The three of them walked to the Gryffindor dorm in silence. Any time they passed another student, James ducked his head, pulling nervously at the hat. Lily resisted the urge to swat his hands, he’d worry the hat right off his head if he wasn’t careful. She felt too sorry for him to scold him though. James’s hair was his baby, and she often wondered who he’d save first – his hairstyle or her.

They reached the common room and James slinked off to his dorm. Peter followed quickly, and Lily set off to join them. She passed Hestia and Marlene who grinned and wiggled their eyebrow suggestively.

She shook her head at them. She could explain everything, the kiss, the bald, the map, but she wanted to make sure James didn’t throw himself out the window in shame.

Outside their dorm door, she found Peter and James stood wide-eyed. She opened her mouth to ask why they weren’t inside, but James pressed an urgent finger to his lips, shushing her. She clamped her mouth shut, taking in the shock and confusion on their faces.

It became clear what had stopped them when Remus shouted from behind the door.

“How could you be so stupid? How could you be so reckless after everything that happened?”

Sirius’s voice followed, quieter but no less angry, “I wasn’t reckless. I was smart about it.”

“There’s no way any of that was smart! You could’ve been killed, don’t you get that?”

James threw open the door, “Trouble in parad- oh! Why the hell are you naked!”

Lily raised her eyebrows at the sight in front of her. Remus and Sirius weren’t quite naked, but Remus’s shirt was unbuttoned and Sirius wasn’t wearing trousers. They were stood in the middle of the dorm, angled towards each other but facing the three intruders.

Remus jabbed a finger at James but looked at Sirius, “Tell him.”

“No, Moony, no,” Sirius begged.

“Tell him or I will.”

James looked expectantly at Sirius, but he didn’t look back at him. He kept his eyes on the floor, like a scolded child trying to avoid his parent’s gaze. Lily pushed into the room and shut the door behind them, they didn’t need eavesdroppers here.

When Sirius offered no explanation, James prompted, “Tell me what, Pads?”

James sounded worried, as he took a tentative step towards Sirius.

Remus pursed his lips at Sirius, but he still refused to share. Remus buttoned his shirt up furiously. Lily had never seen him so angry before. Sirius must have done something awful, and Lily really hoped it wasn’t anything to do with his trousers being off.

“FINE!” Remus shouted, making them all flinch. He turned to face James, looking away from Sirius like he never wanted to look back, “He went to Grimmauld Place over summer.”

James staggered back like Remus had punched him. He pressed a hand to his chest, his mouth fell open. It was safe to assume he’d forgotten about his lack of hair. He rounded on Sirius, a look of betrayal spreading across his face. Sirius didn’t look up. He seemed to shrink further into himself, chastised.

“How could you do that?” James asked, his voice low and fearful.

Sirius snapped out of his shame, flushing with anger. He jerked his head up at James, “Oh don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what? Disappointed? Because I sure as hell am!”

“I had to go back!”

“Did someone make you?” Peter asked.

Lily stepped back, she wasn’t a part of this conversation. She knew about Sirius’s home life, but she’d never actually spoken to him about it. He had shrugged off any attempt she’d ever made with jokes and laughter.

Sirius looked at Peter, “No, but-”

“Then you didn’t have to,” Peter interrupted.

All four of them seemed angry and frightened. The rumours about Walburga Black were bad, but they seemed to affect these four more personally than anyone else. Lily could tell James, Peter, and Remus weren’t really mad, it was just their fear for Sirius manifesting in anger.

“You don’t get it,” Sirius said. He yanked his trousers up, and repeated, “You don’t get it.”

“Then tell us,” James begged.

“NO!” Sirius shouted, making everyone flinch again. “It’s nothing to do with you! With any of you!”

“Nothing to do with me?” James demanded furiously, “You live in my house!”

“I care about you, too,” Peter squeaked.

“I’m your fucking boyfriend!” Remus snapped. He looked to the shocked faces of Peter, James, and Lily, “We’ve been going out since August, but apparently it’s nothing to do with me.”

“I don’t understand how you could be so idiotic!” James said.

“So stupidly reckless!” Remus added.

“Dangerous,” Peter said.

Sirius shrank back from them, clamping his hands to his head as his friends reprimanded him. Lily felt awfully sorry for him, he looked guilty and sad, lonely and lost. James scolded him, Remus questioned him, Peter begged him. Lily got it, she really did, they were all terrified at what could have happened. Sirius might not have returned to Hogwarts this September, and they were only now realising the danger he’d put himself in.

But this wasn’t the way. This wasn’t how they got answers, this wasn’t how to stop him from doing it again.

She pushed between the three of them, standing in front of Sirius like a kind of barrier.

“Stop it,” she ordered, keeping her voice low but stern. She wasn’t going to shout, but she needed them to listen, “Stop it. This isn’t the way.”

“What?” James asked.

She looked to Peter, Remus, and James, who watched Sirius behind her. She could tell they still had so much to say, but it wasn’t their turn to talk.

“Look, I know I’m not in your inner circle or whatever, but I’m smart enough to know that this isn’t going to be solved by you three yelling.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Remus asked, looking to her, “We handcuff him over the summer so he can’t kill himself? Because I’m considering it.”

“No, how about we just ask him why he went,” she snapped, growing frustrated with the three of them. She turned to face Sirius, who looked at her nervously. She softened her face and her voice, “Why did you go back to Grimmauld Place?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sirius said, trying to push her away. He’d prefer to be shouted at, he’d prefer to be scolded because he was guilty. He didn’t want her understanding.

But he had it.

“It was for Regulus, wasn’t it?”

At the sound of his little brother’s name, Sirius crumbled.


	12. The Secrets Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius's confesses.  
> The Gryffindor Students get a rude awakening.

Sirius told them everything. He told them about the migraine he’d faked so he didn’t have to go to Peter’s with James and Remus. He explained how he’d stolen the invisibility cloak and taken a muggle taxi to Grimmauld Place. He used _Alohomora_ he said, he crept up the stairs to Regulus’s room.

At this point in the story, Sirius had faltered. He kept a lot of his and Regulus conversation secret, only telling the parts he deemed relevant. He told them that Regulus had thought Sirius had abandoned him, chosen James over him. Sirius had reassured him that he had abandoned the rest of the family but not him, never him. They were reunited, they’d always be brothers and friends.

“And then...” Sirius sighed. His mouth was dry from talking so much. He slouched on his bed. James and Remus were on James’s bed, Peter was sat on the floor, and Lily was leaning against the bed post of Sirius’s bed. They all watched him patiently, hanging on his every word.

Sirius sighed again, “And then we were interrupted.”

“By your mum?” Lily offered when Sirius trailed into silence.

He nodded, “She’d heard us and she was mad. I told her…”

Sirius was getting lost in his memories, struggling to keep his words going as he remembered her face. He could picture her wand aimed at Regulus, at the black fury in her eyes.

“I told her it was me, I was trying to...” Sirius’s face darkened, “lead him astray, trying to get him to betray her, our blood, whatever.”

“And then?” James asked, though he looked like he really didn’t want to know what happened next.

Sirius spared them the details. With a humourless laugh, he said, “Then I had a migraine for real.”

“That week when we almost took you to Saint Mungo’s,” James said, realisation spreading on his face, and Sirius nodded.

“Wait, what?” Remus asked, looking panicked.

“He stayed in bed for like a week, he didn’t move or eat or...” James swallowed, “My mum thought we would have to take him to the hospital, but then he got better.”

Remus looked at Sirius as if to say, _why wouldn’t you tell me this?_ Sirius didn’t have an answer to that question. He had just wanted to forget anything happened, he had his brother and that was all that had mattered at the time. He couldn’t look at Remus, he dropped his gaze.

“And this has something to do with the curse?” Peter asked. Everyone looked at him with surprise. He lifted one shoulder in a nervous shrug, “That’s why he’s telling us.”

“He’s right,” Sirius said, surprising everyone even more. “I think… I think Reg has something to do with the curse but not… I don’t know, not like he wants to.”

“Unintentionally?” Lily offered.

“Yeah, like...”

“Like he’s the one cursed?” Remus asked.

“Exactly.”

The five of them fell into silence. Sirius had suspected Regulus had something to do with the curse since their conversation the other day. He’d completely flipped. When Sirius had been at Grimmauld Place they’d agreed to be friends, but in Hogwarts Regulus had been abrasive and hateful.

He thought back to the day of the spider feast, and the parcel Regulus had received from Salazar the owl.

“Alright,” Sirius said. He stood up and stretched, feeling a great weight lifted off his shoulders now he’d shared this secret. “Now that’s all out, I think it’s time I asked the question that’s been plaguing everyone.”

They all looked at him expectantly. Sirius pointed at James, “What the hell is on his head?”

“My hat,” Peter said.

“Sorry, I should’ve said, _why_ is that on his head?”

“Uh...” James looked to Lily, and then away. He steeled himself, and reached up to the hat. He peeled it off, and everyone’s mouths fell open in shock. The candlelight reflected off his shiny, bald head.

Sirius sat back on his bed with a slump, “Holy...”

“Not a single word, Blondie,” James said.

“If I’m Blondie then you’re Baldy!”

James looked angry for a second, before he settled into exasperation. He waved his hand, giving them free reign to mock him. They seized the opportunity.

“I never realised your head was so small,” Remus said.

“It’s such a weird shape,” Sirius said.

“Shiny,” Peter agreed.

“He’s so bald we can see what’s on his mind,” Remus said, peering at James’s shiny head.

“His ears are hairier than his head!” Sirius laughed.

“ _Very_ shiny,” Peter clarified.

“It’s hideous,” Lily said, making them all laugh.

James held his hands up, “Ha-ha, laugh it up while you can. As soon as Lil makes that Manegro Potion, it’s bye-bye Baldy and hello handsome James Potter once again.”

“Unless...” Sirius said.

“Unless?” James asked.

Remus glanced at Lily in an apologetic way, and she looked back in confusion. She had no idea the kind of deal Sirius was about to offer. She’d have to look at James’s shiny head for a little bit longer.

“300 galleons to keep it until the end of the year,” Sirius said.

“Don’t need 300 galleons,” James said.

Sirius thought for a moment, what could he offer James that he didn’t already have? He had Lily now, apparently, he had money, he had charm. He didn’t have hair, and Sirius didn’t want him to have that yet. If he was blond, he wanted James to suffer too.

“Okay, 300 galleons and I verbally declare you to be funnier, smarter, and more good looking than me,” Sirius offered.

Now James looked interested.

Remus leaned over to Lily, “If you kiss him, you’re going to have to keep your eyes closed very tight.”

“Shut up,” Lily said, blushing.

“All of that, but you declare it through a Howler to yourself at breakfast,” James said.

“150 galleons and a Howler at the end of the year.”

“Deal,” James held out his hand.

“Whoa,” Peter said, putting his hand between Sirius and James, “These deals need rules.”

Sirius and James looked at him in horror, and Peter explained, “No hats, no glamours, no hiding your hairstyles at all.”

Remus and Lily snickered at the looks on Sirius and James’s faces.

Through his laughter, Remus said, “I agree. The deals forfeit if you cheat.”

“Why would we cheat?” Sirius demanded.

“Because you’re you.”

“Fine,” Sirius said. He held his hand out for James, “Both deals forfeit if we cheat.”

“Deal.”

“Great, can we get dinner now?” Lily asked. She headed for the door and pulled it open. She waited in the doorway for them impatiently.

They stood up and followed her down the stairs. Everyone was already at dinner, and they’d missed whatever curse related speech Dumbledore had probably given. Lily, James, and Peter walked ahead, and Remus hung back to walk next to Sirius.

“So… that wasn’t how we planned to tell them,” Remus said.

“Yeah, you kinda blurted that out a bit.”

“Yeah.”

Remus stopped Sirius on the stairs and looked at him. Sirius admired the scars cutting across his face, silvery and rough. He reached out and brushed a thumb over the scar on one of his cheekbones. Remus leaned into his hand.

“Please don’t do any of that again,” he asked, softly.

“I won’t,” Sirius said. He knew he couldn’t promise, so he didn’t.

“At the very least, don’t ruin that kind of moment again,” a small smile crept onto his face, and it made a smile grow on Sirius’s.

Sirius leaned closer, “We’ll have plenty of moments like that again.”

“Oh?” Remus hummed. He pressed closer.

Before their lips met, they heard three people clearing their throats very loudly. They pulled apart, and Sirius sighed. He looked at Lily, James, and Peter with narrowed eyes. They didn’t seem embarrassed to have interrupted them.

James pointed to his watch, “Dinner’ll be over if you don’t get a move on.”

Sirius walked down the stairs. He patted James’s cheek, “He is my dinner.”

“Please don’t make me throw up before I’ve even eaten.”

* * *

By the time midnight rolled around, they had a plan. It was a small plan, and it consisted of sitting around and waiting for Regulus’s dot on the Marauder’s Map to leave the Slytherin common room. But when the middle of the night came, four out of five of them were asleep.

In the Gryffindor common room, Lily was curled up like a cat, in an armchair by the dwindling fire, fast asleep. Peter was in the other chair, mouth hanging open, his robes pulled tight around him like a makeshift blanket. With a corner of the sofa each, Remus and James slept soundly. James was sprawled out, glasses still on, one foot up on the coffee table. Remus was tucked inwards, cocooned in a blanket pulled up to his chin.

Sirius was the only one awake. He was stretched across the couch, his head in Remus’s lap and his legs in James’s. He held the map in his hands, watching the very still dots on the parchment.

He hadn’t been surprised when Lily had handed it to him. In fact, he had been thoroughly unsurprised. It had always just been a matter of time until Lily found out all their secrets. He glanced up at Remus. Lily already knew about him being a werewolf, how long would it be until she found out about their Animagus forms?

He turned back to the map, and found Regulus’s dot. Like his, it had been in his common room for the past four hours, unmoving. He wasn’t in his dorm, like the others, he was in the common room. On it’s own, that wasn’t weird. After all, Sirius had fallen asleep in the common room hundreds of time, he was seconds away from doing so now. But with the curse, and Sirius’s growing suspicion, he found Regulus’s unmoving dot alarming.

James shifted, his hand settling on Sirius’s ankle. Sirius arched an eyebrow, and made a mental note to mock James in the morning for feeling him up in his dreams. He shuffled higher, bringing his head out of Remus’s lap and onto the sofa armrest. His neck was already cramping, but he wouldn’t look away from the map.

He couldn’t.

“Moony,” Sirius whispered.

Remus didn’t wake up. Sirius let him sleep.

He watched the dot, the floating text next to it labelling it Regulus Black. His eyes were beginning to hurt. There was pressure building behind them, they were dry and itchy. He needed to sleep, but now he’d confessed his summer activities, he didn’t want to. He wanted this whole curse thing to be over. He wanted his stupid actions over summer to be forgotten.

He so hoped James wouldn’t tell his mum and dad. He didn’t need their disappointment as well as his friends’.

The dot moved. Sirius’s eyes were tired enough for him to convince himself it was a trick of the light.

That is, until it moved again. Regulus was awake, and he was walking across the common room. Sirius sat up, earning himself a sleepy protest from Remus. He stared at the map, bringing it close to his face as though it might tell him what Regulus was doing. He swung his legs out of James’s lap, splashing onto the carpet.

He paused. He lifted one foot and put it down, it definitely splashed. He stood up and looked at the floor, that was slowly filling with water.

“Mischief Managed,” Sirius said to the map, and folded it away quickly.

He stamped his feet, watching the water splash underfoot. He rubbed his eyes, but the water was still in the room, growing slowly. It was inching up James, Remus, and Peter’s shoes. Sirius stepped away from the couch, but he couldn’t see where the water was coming from.

It was filling the whole room. In a few minutes it would be high enough to pour past the portrait and out over the Grand Staircase.

“GET UP!” Sirius shouted, making everyone in the common room jump awake.

James and Peter leapt up, wands out and ready to fight. Lily groaned and eased herself out of her curled up position to peer at them. Remus didn’t move, but he did crack open his eyes.

“What the hell, Padfoot?” Remus asked.

“The dorm is flooding, and unless you want wet socks I suggest you get up now.” Sirius patted Lily’s head, “Lily, dear, you should go wake the students since it’s your job.”

“Ugh,” was Lily’s only response.

James and Peter, upon leaping up, had discovered the wet floor. They stamped their feet like Sirius had, sending water droplets flying. James reached down and ducked the tips of his fingers into the water, testing that it was actual water.

“Yeah… we should wake people up,” James said.

Sirius patted Lily again, earning himself a swift swat, “Lily, wakey, wakey.”

“Moony, get up,” James said with a kick to Remus’s leg.

Lily and Remus reluctantly woke up. They stood up, and awareness seemed to flood their faces when they felt the water seep over the top of their shoes.

“Shit,” Remus said.

“What on earth?” Lily asked.

“Curse?” Peter asked, and Sirius nodded.

“Prefects, get the students up. Peter, get McGonagall. James, let’s go watch the chaos.” Sirius left the dorm, closely followed by James. By the time they’d settled on the staircase one floor up from the dorm, they had front row seats to students and water pouring out of the Gryffindor common room.


	13. The Flood

Students in their pyjamas fled the Gryffindor common room with wet feet. They slipped on the watery stairs, shouted and screamed, came running outside with cats wiggling in their grip. McGonagall was trying to regain control, but it was hard to order people around when they were busy slipping down stairs. Flitwick was soaked up to his knees, Slughorn was flapping about as students bowled into him.

All through the chaos, Peter, Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily sat on the staircase one floor up watching the madness. They were safe from the water, and so far no Professors had spotted them and asked them to help.

Peter pulled out a bag of Honeydukes sweets, and passed them to his friends. When the bag reached him, James plucked out a green sweet, and passed the bag over to Lily.

“I wish we’d done this,” he said, gesturing at the panic, “The majesty, the chaos, the sheer, utter...”

“Fuck, Prongs are you gonna come in your pants?” Sirius asked.

“Maybe.”

“We’ve flooded plenty of places in our time. Remember the great Astronomy Tower waterfall?”

“Wait, that was you?” Lily asked, passing the sweets back to Remus.

“You sound surprised,” Remus said, passing the bag up to Sirius.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t be.”

“Marcus! Stop running! Do you want to slip down the... Lucille please get Madam Pomfrey,” McGonagall shouted, making the five of them giggle.

James looked over to Remus and Sirius on his left. Sirius was sat behind them, his chin on Remus’s head, his arms around his shoulders. He was draped around him like a very blond scarf. James ran a hand over his smooth head.

“You know,” he said, dropping his hand, “just because we know about you now, doesn’t mean you need to cuddle all the time.”

“That’s exactly what it means,” Sirius said.

Remus leaned his head back, and Sirius pressed a kiss to his forehead. James made a gagging noise, earning himself two angry glares from his friends, and a snicker from Lily.

“What?” James asked, “How many times have you faked throwing up when I’ve talked about Lily?”

“Speaking of which, when are you going to tell us about the kiss?” Remus asked.

“What kiss?” James asked, turning to face the common room once more. He was suddenly very aware of how close he was to Lily, how their knees were pressed together. He swallowed a lump in his throat, running another hand over his smooth head.

“ _What kiss_?” Sirius mocked in a higher pitched version of James’s voice. He waved a hand with annoyance, “Since when did you become so secretive, Prongsy? If I recall correctly, you wouldn’t shut up about Lily for three months when she cut her hair.”

“I didn’t… it wasn’t...” James stammered, trying to hide his embarrassment. He sighed, “I didn’t talk about it for three months.”

Thankfully, Lily didn’t say anything. She just took another sweet from the bag, keeping her eyes focused on the waterfall.

“Sorry, my mistake, _four_ months,” Sirius said.

“Shut up,” James said.

“They still didn’t tell us about the kiss,” Remus stage-whispered.

“They’ll do it when they’re ready,” Sirius whispered back.

“We’re taking a leaf out of your book and keeping a secret for _four months,_ ” Lily said.

“Yeah, what’s with that?” James demanded.

“Everything tastes sweeter when it’s secret,” Sirius said.

James would have told them to shut up again, but he knew from experience it wouldn’t work. The two of them had always been insufferable as a pair, sharing a favourite past-time of mocking James.

Sure, his favourite past-time with Sirius was mocking Peter, and his favourite past-time with Remus was mocking Sirius, and his favourite past-time with Peter was mocking Remus.

But did they have to be so good at it, damn it!

“You got a thing for blonds then, Remus?” James asked.

“Don’t worry, he’s only blond on his head,” Remus said.

“Oh god,” Lily said, grimacing, “I get you’re trying to gross James out, but some of us don’t want to picture Sirius naked.”

“You’re missing out then, Evans. Ask your boyfriend,” Sirius said with a wink.

“He’s not my… shut up, Sirius.”

“Why would I endorse your naked body?” James demanded.

“Why wouldn’t you?” Remus and Sirius asked in unison.

James just shook his head in exasperation. Students were still running around, McGonagall was still shouting, while Flitwick and Slughorn tried to put an end to the water.

Nothing seemed to be working, and James suspected he wouldn’t be able to sleep in the dorm for the rest of the night.

“Uh… Sirius,” Peter said. He took the bag of sweets out of Sirius’s hand and replaced it with the map, “Regulus is out of the common room.”

Sirius disentangled himself from Remus, and James moved up a step to sit by him. The two of them pored over the map, searching for Regulus’s dot past the frantically fleeing dots of Gryffindor students. James spotted the dot in the dungeons.

“There!”

Sirius stood up and stepped between Remus and Lily. He turned to face them, “I’m off. Don’t follow.”

“Don’t follow?” James asked.

“I mean it! Promise me.”

James furrowed his brows, but he nodded his head anyway. Sirius turned to Remus, “Moony, you too.”

“I promise,” Remus shrugged.

Sirius made Lily and Peter promise too, before walking off into the flood. He didn’t bother to take off his trainers or roll up his trouser legs, he just ran through the chaotic students and down the Grand Staircase. James slipped back into his seat between Remus and Lily.

He wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulders.

“We’re not really staying here, right?” she asked.

“Oh, hell no,” James said.

“We just need to wait for him to get a bit further away,” Remus said.

When he deemed Sirius far enough away, James stood up. The other three followed him as they splashed through the water and down the stairs. Before they got very far away, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat pointedly.

“May I inquire as to where you four are going?” she asked, which James figured translated into _don’t you dare run away from this._

“To get buckets and mops, Professor,” Lily lied easily.

“And that requires four of you?”

“More hands, more mops,” Remus explained, with a smile.

McGonagall looked sceptical, but she nodded, “That’s exactly the kind of behaviour I expect from my Prefects. Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettigrew, there may be shiny red badges in your futures.”

“Thanks, Professor,” James said. He turned to carry on.

“Mr. Potter,” McGonagall’s voice stopped him again. “What happened to your hair?”

“The same thing that happened to Sirius’s, Professor.”

McGonagall pursed her lips, “And you’re aware that a Manegro Potion could bring your hair back in less than a day? If you’re struggling, I’m sure Miss. Evans could help.”

“I would, Professor, but I’ve made a bet with Sirius.”

McGonagall didn’t seem surprised. She smiled a small, knowing smile, and then shooed them away with her hand and turned back to the situation. She caught a first-year student by his collar before he plummeted down the stairs.

The four of them carefully made their way down the staircase. They broke into a jog when they reached dry land. Sirius’s blond head was visible at the bottom of the Grand Staircase. He seemed to be waiting for something.

James jumped the last four steps to the bottom of the stairs, “Hey, mate.”

“You took your time,” Sirius said.

“You told us not to follow,” Remus said, sliding up next to them.

“Well, _obviously,_ I didn’t mean it,” Sirius swiped a nervous hand through his hair, grimacing when he caught sight of the blond tips. He was trying hard not to look at James, which James noticed immediately. “Listen, I think Reg is cursed, so can we all agree not to… hurt him?”

“Agreed,” the others said almost immediately.

Sirius looked relieved and set off for the dungeons. James realised that Sirius saw this as his friends vs his family, but it wasn’t that, not at all. It was his friends vs Walburga Black. They may forgive Regulus for his mistakes, but they’d never forgive his mother. James hoped that Sirius was right, and Regulus was cursed. He wasn’t sure how Sirius would react if it turned out Regulus had willingly caused this chaos.


	14. Painfully Gold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regulus is stopped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna add the last two chapters in one go, so enjoy!

They were barely into the Potion’s classroom when a bottle narrowly missed Sirius’s head and smashed into the wall. It showered something that smelt like burnt toast over their heads. Sirius’s head was shoved down when another vial shot at him. He stood back up, throwing a thankful look at James who’d saved his eyes from an explosion of glass.

“Regulus,” Sirius said.

Remus waved his wand and the bottle Regulus had been going for was moved out of reach. He looked up at them then, away from his bubbling cauldron, and Sirius flinched. Behind those grey eyes, so similar to his own, there was nothing. There was a blank emptiness to his face that chilled Sirius to the bone.

“Regulus,” he said, more out of surprise than anything else.

“Get out, you traitor!” Regulus shouted, his voice echoing over the stone.

Sirius flinched. He’d hoped to never hear that word from his brother again. That’s why he’d gone to Grimmauld Place this summer, to make his brother understand. He thought he’d succeeded.

He was very aware of his friends stood behind him, wands raised.

“Reg, c’mon this isn’t you.”

“What would you know?” Every word out of Regulus’s voice was acidic, a physical punch to Sirius.

Sirius took a tentative step forward, slipping his wand behind his ear and out of the way, “I know you, Reg.”

Sirius hoped saying his name would help, it would bring him back to himself, “I know this isn’t you, it’s her.”

“Don’t talk about her!” Regulus whipped his wand towards Sirius.

He caught sight of a flash of gold on his wrist. Sirius was too focused on that to reach for his wand. The spell shot at his face. Lily deflected the curse neatly, sending it careening into the wall.

“Mudblood!”

“Say that again,” James roared, aiming his wand at Regulus.

“Prongs,” Sirius hissed, shoving James’s wand arm down.

He needed to show Regulus he could trust him, not curse him into oblivion. James looked ashamed, as he lowered his wand. Sirius hated the word, and he especially hated it aimed at Lily, but he knew this wasn’t Regulus. He just knew it.

And he suspected it had something to do with that flash of gold on his wrist.

There were several spells Sirius could use to immobilise his brother, but he wanted him to do this willingly. He walked forward, slowly, trying not to look at the wand in his brother’s hand. Instead, he looked at the void behind his eyes, at the unfamiliarity in his face.

It was clear to him, Regulus was cursed.

“Regulus, remember what I said this summer?” Sirius asked. Regulus’s eyes darted from Sirius to his friends and back again. Sirius reminded him, “That I’ll always be your brother.”

Sirius was a few steps away from him. When Regulus shifted his wand to keep it on Sirius, he saw more of the gold on his wrist. It was painfully gold, too bright to be real. It hurt his eyes.

“What is that?” Sirius asked.

“A prize,” Regulus sneered, “for being the only worthy son.”

“Nice,” Sirius hoped his voice didn’t convey the shock of pain he’d felt, “Can I see it?”

“You’re not worthy.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Sirius said.

He glanced back to his friends. Remus caught his eye, wearing an expression that wasn’t pity, but was full of worry. James and Peter mirrored the expression. They were all worried about how hearing these words again, the same words his mother had said over and over, would affect him.

But they didn’t realise how far Sirius had come. He hadn’t gone back to Grimmauld Place in the hopes of earning his mother’s love, he didn’t need it anymore. He had gone back to save his brother from a life that could’ve been his.

Sirius turned back to his brother. His approach was futile. For as long as that empty look remained in Regulus’s eyes, he was untouchable. He had to try a new approach.

He lunged, catching everyone by surprise. His shoulder smacked into Regulus’s wand, and the spell he’d shouted was sent past them. Sirius couldn’t look back to see if someone had been hurt. He shoved Regulus to the ground, cracking his knee painfully against the stool.

Regulus’s head bounced off the floor, and Sirius wrestled him the rest of the way down. Regulus looked dazed. Sirius used this momentary confusion to shove the sleeve up Regulus’s arm. The shiny watch on Regulus’s wrist stung his eyes. It was hideously gold, inset with silver and green gemstones that were sharp enough to cut skin. From the looks of it, the watch didn’t actually tell the time.

“What is it?” Remus asked, peering over Sirius’s shoulder.

Regulus came back to life, “Filthy half-breed.”

“Thanks,” Remus said, unconcerned.

“Shut up, Regulus,” Sirius snapped.

Regulus’s hand flew up and scratched Sirius’s cheek. He hissed in pain as James seized his free hand and dragged it to the floor. Sirius sucked in a breath. His hands were too preoccupied holding Regulus to check on his cheek.

Lily kneeled by them, Peter stood a little bit away. All five of them looked at the watch, but not directly. They looked at it through the corner of their eyes, trying to negate some of the weird pain that sparked in their eyes at the sight of it.

“Why does it hurt?” Lily asked.

“It’s cursed,” Sirius said, “I think.”

“Gotta be,” James said.

“Filthy blood traitors, stains of dishonour,” Regulus hissed.

“ _Silencio,_ ” Peter said.

Regulus continued to hiss and spit and rant, but his words were silenced. Sirius narrowed his eyes at Peter, but Remus’s firm hand on his shoulder made him bite back his words. He was glad Regulus’s hate speech had been silenced, but he didn’t like his brother being charmed.

“They...” James glanced nervously at Sirius, “They were her words, weren’t they?”

Sirius didn’t look at him. He nodded. He’d recounted those words to James long ago, when he’d first explained the truth about his family.

“Then it’s confirmed?” Remus asked. He kneeled behind Sirius, and just the knowledge of his proximity made the anxiety in Sirius’s chest loosen. Remus continued, quietly, “He’s cursed?”

“We have to get this off,” Sirius said, lifting Regulus’s struggling wrist.

Regulus struggled and fought against his captors, but he was younger and slighter than his brother. He had no chance against him and James, plus the three other wand-holders waiting nearby. His horrible words were silenced, and Sirius refused to look at his face.

Remus stretched his fingers towards the watch. When they made contact, he yanked his hand back like it had been burned. He looked at his quickly reddening fingertips.

“Did it burn you?” Sirius asked.

“Look at his skin!” Lily gasped.

She pointed at the slip of Regulus’s skin that had been revealed from underneath the watch. It looked like Remus’s fingers but worse. It was a furious red, blistered and singed. There were grooves from the strap, it looked like the watch had been welded into his skin.

“Fuck,” Sirius said.

Regulus tried to throw James and Sirius off, but got nowhere. Sirius looked up at everyone, uninterested in Regulus’s weak attempts to escape.

“What do we do?” he asked.

“Get Dumbledore,” Lily said, instantly.

Sirius didn’t like that idea, but he suspected that any spell would bounce right off the watch untouched. He looked down at Regulus, who had stopped struggling momentarily and was panting heavily. It was like looking in a fun house mirror, a glimpse into the madness that could’ve been him.

“Wormtail, Mcgonagall,” he ordered. Peter scampered off, probably relieved to be away from Regulus.

Sirius didn’t want to cause more damage by trying to get this band off. He thought of the meeting he’d had with McGonagall a few days ago. He suspected she’d known something was up all along. Maybe she’d even thought it was him who was cursed.

Whether she knew or not, he trusted no one else with his brother. He wouldn’t let anyone else hold him down like James was, or aim their wands at him like Lily and Remus. He reached for the watch, and felt a strange pull towards it, as though it was dragging his skin towards it.

He pulled his hand away when the urge almost got too strong.

“Mr. Black,” McGonagall said, sounding out of breath. She must have run all the way here when Peter got to her.

Or maybe she’d been on her way the whole time.

Sirius looked down at Regulus who looked back with hollow eyes.

“Professor, I wasn’t entirely truthful with you,” Sirius said.

“I know, Sirius.”


	15. Regulus Arcturus Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regulus faces his demons.

One week later, Regulus Black could almost remember what had happened between now and receiving his mother’s present. _Almost._

As he sat on the edge of the hospital bed he’d lived in for the past week, Madam Pomfrey flapped around him. She shined her wandlight in his eyes, and placed a finger delicately on the pulse in his wrist, and summoned a blood-pressure cuff from nowhere. She didn’t seem concerned by his stillness, by his distant stare as he tried to remember where his days had gone.

As she poked and prodded, muttered and recorded information, he ran through the fragments of his memory. He could remember the brown parcel delivered by Salazar, his mother’s owl. He could remember the dragging lure of the watch, and the sudden intense burning when he’d strapped it on. Then everything went spotty.

A flash of platinum blond hair, a cauldron of burning fumes, brooms drifting without riders. An overwhelming need to collect lake water, a desperate urge to hex clothes. A feeling that his body was no longer his own, and no longer singular. That he existed in every inch of Hogwarts, that he could see everything and everyone inside.

“Okay, Mr. Black,” Pomfrey said, startling him, “You’re free to go.”

Regulus slid off the bed, his fingers automatically finding the bandage around his wrist. The skin beneath felt absent and not his own. Pomfrey looked at his fingers, picking at the bandaging.

“Do not remove that bandage, Mr. Black. Come to me if it needs replacing but _do not remove it._ ”

“Okay,” Regulus said. His voice was croaky with misuse. His friends had come to see him before, but he hadn’t had much to say. They hadn’t noticed he was cursed, and he wondered what else they wouldn’t notice.

He pictured Sirius, and quickly shook away the thought.

Before he left the Hospital Wing, he looked at Madam Pomfrey who met his gaze. “Can I have the watch back?”

“The watch?” Pomfrey asked. She pursed her lips, clearly unhappy with the very idea of giving that thing back to Regulus. He nodded his head, once, and her lips thinned even more, “The curse has been removed from it. It is idle.”

“I’d still like it.”

Pomfrey was visibly torn. She wanted to keep Regulus away from the thing, but she also suspected this might help Regulus heal. And it would, in some ways. He waited for her to decide, and then waited some more for her to retrieve the watch.

She held it out for him, and Regulus stared at it. It was dull now, tarnished almost. The gems that had sparkled so brightly when he’d first seen it, now looked like cheap, coloured glass. One corner of his mouth turned up in an unhappy smirk. His mother’s curses really were genius.

He took the watch, and Pomfrey reluctantly let it go. He slipped it into his pocket, keeping his hand on it. It was cool now, but he could feel the memory of heat in his fingertips when they made contact.

“Don’t remove that bandage,” Pomfrey called as Regulus walked out.

He didn’t bother replying. He walked through the castle, keeping an eye out for a bald shiny head or platinum blond hair. He only wanted one of them, but if he found one, he’d find the other.

In the courtyard, his heart stopped. Lily Evans walked towards him. She’d seen him so he couldn’t run away. Instead, he stopped, and let her walk right up to him. She was wrapped up in a thick coat and scarf. Snowflakes littered her hair and melted on her cheeks. Regulus ignored the cold in the pursuit of his brother.

“Regulus,” she said.

For a long time, Regulus couldn’t say her name. All he could think about was the word _mudblood_ being ripped from his tongue. He’d said it only twice before, but neither time had felt as bad as that one had. He’d never said it _to_ someone, and that made him see the word in a different context. A dirty context.

He vowed to never say the word again.

“Are you looking for Sirius?” Lily asked, easing over his absent reply, “They’re all by the lake. Don’t ask me why, it’s freezing!”

Regulus nodded, his voice still missing.

Lily gave him an awkward smile and stepped around him. She headed back for the castle.

“Wait,” he called, before he’d even thought of what to say. He turned to face her and she looked up at him. Her face was kind, but he knew he didn’t deserve it. “About what I said...”

Her kindness became guarded, but she didn’t close off completely. He remembered the look on her face when he’d said the word. Shame pooled in his stomach.

“I hope you know that I didn’t… what I said wasn’t what I think,” Regulus was having a hard time speaking, and he’d never struggled for words like this before.

Then again, he’d never tried to apologise before.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I’m sorry, there’s no excuse.”

She swallowed. “I know, I saw the watch.”

She didn’t say it was okay, because it wasn’t.

“Right, yeah. Thanks for doing all that.”

She smiled, and waved goodbye, “It’s good to see you up again.”

He turned away and carried on towards Sirius. When he stepped out onto the grounds, he could see the four of them by the lake immediately. James was still bald, Sirius was still blond. They were easy to spot amongst the snow and half-built snowmen.

Regulus crunched through the snowy grounds towards them. As he got closer he could see more of them. James was gesticulating wildly and recounting a story that was making the others laugh. Peter was interjecting occasionally, probably adding details that James had forgotten. Remus was sat cross-legged, carefully pouring something from a Thermos to a mug.

He had to be careful because Sirius’s head was in his lap, and one wrong move would scald his face. Not that Sirius seemed concerned as he shifted to say something to James, and almost jostled Remus.

Regulus passed a group of first years having a snowball fight. They were careful not to throw the snowballs anywhere near him. He wasn’t sure if that was because of his haughty look, or because his involvement in the curse was well known somehow.

Remus was the first to spot him. He lowered the mug from his lips and said something to Sirius to get his attention. James, Sirius, and Peter looked at Regulus as one. Regulus felt another urge to run away, but resisted. He marched up to them, his grip tightening on the watch.

Sirius sat up quickly, his face a mixture of apprehension, worry, and tentative hope.

Regulus pulled the watch out of his pocket and threw it to the ground in between the four of them. They all stared at it, recoiling like it was a snake. He watched Sirius, who stared at the gold in the snow.

Regulus cleared his throat, “Thanks.”

Sirius met his eyes, with a little less worry and more hope, “You’re welcome.”

The other three were looking to Sirius to see how to react, but Sirius only had eyes for Regulus.

There was so much Regulus wanted to say to his brother, and none of it would come out of his mouth. He couldn’t say it. He was loyal to his family and loyal to his house. He held values that Sirius shunned.

But they were still brothers, and Regulus loved his brother even if everything told him he shouldn’t.

In the end, all he managed to say was, “All of you. Thanks.”

Regulus turned to go but James’s voice stopped him.

“You know,” he said, casually, “You look more like Sirius than he does right now.”

Regulus couldn’t help the tiny flash of pride that appeared on his face. He tried to bury it, but he knew Sirius had seen it. He gave him a tiny, embarrassed smile, and Sirius grinned back, wide and gleeful.

“Is that another blond joke?” Sirius asked James, without taking his eyes off his brother.

“You’re keeping the hair then?” Regulus asked.

“Just until I win 300 galleons, and then I’ll be back to reclaim my rightful title as the most handsome Black brother in Hogwarts,” he gave his brother a wink, “So don’t get comfortable.”

Regulus arched an arrogant eyebrow, “Please, you were usurped the second I arrived.”

Remus laughed at the look on Sirius’s face and earned himself a glare. Sirius didn’t seem too put out by Regulus’s comment, he was just happy that he was still here.

“Good luck with the rematch today, Potter. Try to hold on this time,” Regulus said.

James let out a good-natured laugh, “Don’t worry, I’ve been working on my pull-ups.”

Regulus allowed himself a small smile when they all laughed. He turned to go again. This time he managed to get a whole four steps away before Sirius caught him. He caught him in a rough hug, almost sending them both crashing to the ground. Regulus’s shoulders stiffened at first. He slowly relaxed enough to awkwardly pat Sirius’s arm,

“Your hair looks stupid.”

“I know.” Sirius released him, and looked at the snowy ground. Almost afraid of the response, he asked, “See you around?”

“Yeah. See you around,” Regulus said, glancing away from the exceedingly happy smile Sirius gave him.

This time when he set off to the castle, nothing stopped him. He heard a splash in the lake and four boys cheering. He laughed to himself, picturing the stupidly gold watch sinking to the bottom of the lake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone! I really hope you liked it. I have plenty of other Marauder fics if you liked my writing style.


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